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the  Contests  of  the 


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1914  Revised  Edition    _.  \\  \  c 
•    Discarded  est  ^ 

Winning   Orations 

in  the  National  Contests  of  the 
Intercollegiate    Prohibi- 
tion Association 


Produced  and  Delivered  by  College 
and  University  Men  and  Women. 
Edited  for  the  Association  by 
Harry  S.  Warner,   Gen'l  Secretary. 


PUBLISHED    BY    THE 

INTERCOLLEGIATE    PROHIBITION    ASSOCIATION, 

CHICAGO,    ILL. 


_X^?-^ 


REVISED  EDITION 


Copyright,    191 5 

The  Intercollegiate  Prohibition 

Association 


Contents 

PAGE 

The  Prohibition  Oratorical  Contest  Series,  .//arry  S.  Warner  7 

THE    NATIONAL   OF    1914 

Earl    H.    Haydock. 10 

Our  National  Parasite Earl  H.  Haydock  14 

Henry   C   Jacobs 21 

Watchman,  What  of  the  Night? Henry  C.  Jacobs  23 

Herbert   M.   Wyrick 28 

The  Spirit  of  the  Constitution Herbert  M.  Wyrick  32 

Ethel   L.   Bedient 39 

An  Open   Fight Ethel  L.  Bedient  41 

Charles    G.    Gomon 46 

The  Second  Emancipation Charles  G.  Gomon  50 

Samuel   W.    Grathwell 57 

Liquor  versus  Capital  and  Labor Samuel  W.  Grathwell  59 

Aura    C.    Nesmith 64 

The  Final  Step Aura  C.  Nesmith  68 

THE    NATIONAL    OF    1912 

Frank    Wideman '. 75 

The  Question  of  the  Century Frank  Wideman  77 

Harry  G.   McCain 82 

Liquor  versus  Liberty > Harry  G.  McCain  86 

THE    NATIONAL    OF    1910 

Laurel   E,   Elam 93 

Party  Principles Laurel  E.  Elam  95 

Lewis  M.  Simes 100 

Prohibition  and  Personal  Liberty Lezvis  M.  Simes  104 

s 

.1  ,I.X.^Otf 


6  CONTENTS 

THE    NATIONAL    OF    1908 

PAGE 

Charles  Scroggin  Pierce 108 

The  Price  of  Victory Charles  S.  Pierce  112 

Levi   T.    Pennington 119 

The  New  Patriotism Levi  T.  Pennington  121 

THE    NATIONAL    OF    1906 

Archie  L.   Ryan 126 

Prohibition  a  Civic  Necessity A'rchie  L.  Ryan  130 

Elwood    Stanley    Minchin 137 

The  Triumph  of  Principle E.  S.  Mincliin  139 

THE    NATIONAL    OF    1904 

Walter    R.    Miles 144 

Sacrifice  Is  the  Victory  Spirit Walter  R.  Miles  147 

jMamie  White  Colvin 153 

The  Right  to  Prohibit  Wron.q; Mamie  White  Cokin  155 

A  Political  Problem Uarr\  C.  Culver  159 


The  Prohibition  Oratorical  Contest  Series 

ITS  PURPOSES  AND  ADVANTAGES. 

The  successful  public  speaker  in  this,  the  twentieth 
century,  when  the  newspapers  are  supplying  such  a  mass 
of  information  and  misinformation,  is  the  one  who  can 
interpret  this  stream  of  events  in  the  light  of  the  social 
currents  beneath.  If  he  can  do  this  in  an  attractive  and 
interesting  way,  he  is  popular.  If  not,  he  is  useful  any- 
way. 

The  old  type  of  orator  who  mixed  his  metaphors  with 
the  sunlight  and  his  arms  with  the  ethereal  heavens  above 
is  passing — has  passed.  The  public  speaker  who  "gets 
results"  in  this  business  age  when  so  few  men  have  more 
than  ten  minutes  at  a  time  to  think  of  one  subject,  is  he 
who  can  appeal  to  the  emotions,  yes,  to  a  limited  degree 
in  its  proper  place,  but  who  must  first  convince  the  judg- 
ment and  that  with  facts  as  they  exist  now,  not  as  they 
were  last  year. 

The  true  orator  has  always  been  the  one  who  can  take 
a  subject,  to  his  hearers  unpopular,  and  win  them  to  his 
way  of  thinking.  Conviction  must  be  nod  merelj  ior  the 
moment,  while  the  people  sit  charmed  by  his  expression 
and  logic,  but  also  for  their  cool-headed  judgment  and 
actual  conduct  the  next  day.  Does  this  imply  that  the 
day  of  the  orator  has  passed?  Rather  that  the  demands 
placed  upon  him  who  would  succeed  have  doubled.  He 
must  know  his  subject  thoroughly  and  by  experience,  as 
well  as  be  able  to  talk  about  it. 

A  great  cause  is  the  occasion  that  discovers  the  man 
with  the  so-called  natural  talent  for  oratory,  and  that 
makes  of  the  plain  public  speaker  a  practical  success.  It 
absorbs  his  mind,  compelling  him  to  know  its  relation  to 
other  reforms,  social,  political  and  religious.  By  putting 
foremost  the  purpose  to  help,  it  develops  personality. 
The  prohibition  series  of  college  and  university  oratorical 

7 


8  WINNING   ORATIONS 

contests  offers  to  the  students  who  are  preparing  to  make 
their  Hves  count  for  their  fellows  certain  very  definite 
advantages. 

1st.  A  wider  field  of  competition  than  is  offered  by  any 
other  college  oratorical  system  in  the  country.  It  brings 
together  eastern  and  western  types  of  oratory ;  it  unites 
South  and  North  with  the  characteristic  qualities  of  each. 

2nd.  As  high,  if  not  a  higher  field  of  competition,  in- 
volving four  steps  to  national  honors :  Local  League, 
State,  Interstate,  and  National  Contests.  This  affords 
a  large  number  of  honor  positions.  A  greater  number 
may  enter  with  prospect  of  some  degree  of  success. 

3rd.  Equality  of  competition,  resulting  from  the  use 
of  the  same  general  subject  which  yet  permits  sufficient 
variation  and  treatment  to  satisfy  personal  views  and 
preferences  of  contestants. 

4th.  The  opportunity  to  advocate  a  great  cause,  a  live 
question,  that  which  really  makes  a  strong  orator.  This 
is  the  great  feature  of  this  system  of  oratorical  work. 

5th.  Training  for  practical  public  service  in  some  de- 
partment of  the  movement. 

6th.  Special  opportunity  to  investigate  the  theme  to 
be  treated  from  many  ])oints  of  view,  using  the  most  up- 
to-date  material.  The  Association  provides,  through  its 
publications  and  reference  libraries,  for  tborougli  and  sys- 
tematic study  of  the  liquor  problem  and  a  com])arison 
of  methods  proposed  for  its  solution. 

"Winning  Orations"  contains  all  the  orations  that  were 
delivered  at  the  last  national  contest  of  the  Association. 
It  also  contains  the  first  and  second  honor  orations  of  all 
])revious  national  contests,  together  with  those  judged 
first  in  thought  and  composition  when  such  orations  did 
not  receive  a  prize.  These  all  were  winners  of  first  hon- 
ors in  their  respective  state  contests  followed  by  first 
honors  in  the  interstates,  eastern,  central  and  western, 
through  which  they  gained  the  privilege  of  entering  the 
national. 

In  prei^aration  for  the  last  national  contest  over  eleven 
hundred  orations  were  written  and  delivered,  some  of 
them  being  spoken  many  times.  l^rst  iionors  in  the 
national  means  victory  over  orators  from  the  proliibilion 


THE    CONTEST    SERIES  9 

leagues  of  the  colleges  and  universities  of  twenty-eight 
states,  from  Maine  and  Florida  to  California  and  from 
Minnesota  to  Texas,  inclusive,  which  are  represented 
annually  in  the  four  inter-state  contests. 

These,  of  course,  are  all  student  orations  and  not  the 
masterpieces  of  experienced  public  speakers.  On  this 
basis  they  should  be  judged;  but  it  is  believed  that  they 
contain  much  vigorous  thought  and  strong  argument  well 
expressed.  But  of  more  significance  is  the  whole- 
hearted purpose  shown  by  their  authors  to  be  of  service 
in  the  fight  against  the  American  Liquor  Traffic. 

Harry  S.  Warner. 
January  15,  1915. 


Earl  H.  Haydock 

For  the  second  time  in  the  history  of  the  Intercol- 
legiate Prohibition  Association  the  highest  honors  in  the 
national  contests  of  the  Association  went  to  the  Pacific 
Coast,  when  Earl  H.  Haydock,  of  the  University  of 
Southern  California,  won  the  1914  National  held  at 
Topeka,  Kan. 

In  his  university  life  Mr.  Haydock — "Happy  Haydock" 
as  he  was  familiarly  known — was  distinctly  a  student 
leader.  He  was  prominently  identified  with  a  wide  range 
of  student  activities,  inckiding  among  others  the  Glee 
Club,  debating  and  literary  societies,  the  Prohibition 
League,  the  Civic  League,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  basketball, 
and  several  student  governing  bodies.  As  an  upperclass- 
man  he  was  chosen  president  of  nearly  every  organization 
of  which  he  was  a  member.  Entering  the  I.  P.  A. 
oratorical  contest  in  his  junior  year  he  made  a  clean 
sweep  of  the  local,  state  and  interstate  scries,  winning  the 
191 3  Western  Interstate  held  at  Pacific  I'niversity,  Ore- 
gon, and  with  it  the  right  to  participate  in  the  19 14 
National.  In  his  senior  year  he  was  a  member  of  the 
winning  debating  team  representing  his  university  and 
was  honored  with  the  presidency  of  the  largest  class  ever 
graduated  from  the  University  of  Southern  Cahfornia. 

Mr.  Haydock  was  born  in  western  Kansas  in  February, 
1886.  After  four  years  in  that  pioneer  dry  state  he  moved 
to  Iowa,  where  he  obtained  his  early  education  in  the 
country  school  at  Ashland.  He  completed  his  eighth 
grade  and  two  years  of  high  school  at  Eldon  and  then 
attended  the  Fort  Worth  Academy  at  Fort  Worth,  Tex., 
for  one  year.  His  high  school  course  was  finished  at 
Tulare,  Cal.,  in  1905,  and  after  one  year  on  the  farm  he 
entered  the  University  of  California,  where  he  worked 
his  way  through  college  and  graduated  with  the  degree 
of  .\.1>.  in  1014.     During  the  vear  follmving  he  pursued 

10  ' 


EARL  H.  HAYDOCK, 
Highest  Honors,  National  of  1914. 


EARL    H.    HAYDOCK  13 

graduate  work  leading  to  his  master's  degree  and  was 
instructor  in  history  in  the  University  High  School. 

Haydock  climbed  into  the  limelight  during  the  summer 
of  1914,  when  he  directed  a  force  of  forty  collegiate 
campaigners  in  the  ''California  Dry"  campaign.  Although 
the  dry  amendment  failed  to  carry,  the  effective,  ener- 
getic work  of  the  college  men  was  one  of  the  factors 
in  rolling  up  the  tremendous  vote  which  was  cast  in 
favor  of  the  prohibition  measure.  Their  campaign  also 
resulted  in  the  election  of  the  first  party  Prohibitionist 
ever  sent  to  Congress.  In  recognition  of  his  efficient 
leadership  Mr.  Haydock  was  honored  with  the  nomina- 
tion for  Member  of  Assembly  on  both  the  Prohibition 
and  Democratic  tickets.  As  a  candidate  he  won  the 
appropriate  characterization,  "Clean,  Keen,  Equipped  for 
the  Job,"  and  received  most  flattering  support  from  the 
voters  of  his  district. 

Concerning  him  the  head  of  the  department  of  Eco- 
nomics at  the  University  of  California  said :  "He  is  a 
good  deal  of  a  human  dynamo ;  you  may  expect  every- 
thing about  him  to  be  set  into  lively  motion.  *  *  * 
He  possesses  high  but  realizable  ideals  of  life  and  govern- 
ment and  is  a  fearless  defender  of  civic  righteousness 
and  the  social  justice  demanded  in  our  day.  Take  him 
all  in  all,  with  the  energy  and  enthusiasm  of  young 
manhood,  the  splendid  culture  of  the  university  seasoned 
with  the  experience  of  actual  life,  the  oratorical  power 
that  makes  leaders  of  men,  and  his  sturdy  sterling  char- 
acter that  insures  independence  and  absolute  integrity, 
Mr.  Haydock  may  be  expected  to  give  an  excellent  ac- 
count of  himself." 


Our  National  Parasite 

Bv  Earl  H.  Havdock, 
University  of  Southern  California,  '14. 

First   Honors,   National    Contest   of    19 14. 
Winner  of  Western  Interstate,  19 13. 

(lu  tho  National  tliis  oration  was  ranked  first  in  delivery  and  second 
in   thought   and    composition.) 


Every  form  of  life  has  its  foe.  Plants  have  their 
parasites.  "The  fowls  of  the  air,  the  fish  in  the  sea,"  all 
creatures  of  Earth  wage  an  endless  conflict  for  existence. 
Man  is  pursued  by  enemies,  from  the  wild  beast  to  the 
invisible  germ. 

The  history  of  nations  is  a  story  of  the  struggle  of  good 
and  evil.  A  nation  falls  because  it  has  institutions 
sucking  its  life  blood.  Xot  all  Athenians  were  morally 
degenerate,  not  all  Romans  were  black  at  heart,  but 
enough  were  bad  to  rot  the  core  of  national  life,  and 
when  the  testing  time  came  they  were  "weighed  in  the 
balance  and  found  wanting." 

If  the  hand  of  history  writes  anything,  is  it  not  this: 
"The  stability  of  a  nation  is  determined  by  the  virtue  of 
its  people"?  Whenever  the  cancer  of  lust  eats  to  the 
heart,  whenever  the  parasite  becomes  master  of  its  host, 
there  can  be  but  one  result.  Vice,  whether  in  the  rich 
or  the  poor,  leads  to  inevitable  destruction.  If  it  be  true 
that  sin  is  the  natural  precursor  of  ruin,  should  we  not 
examine  our  own  democracy  to  see  whether  we  have  any 
national  vices?  If  we  discover  there  any  causes  of 
deterioration,  is  it  not  our  duty  as  enlightened  citizens  to 
face  them  squarely  and  destrov  thom  without  delay? 

14 


OUR    NATIONAL   PARASITE  15 

II. 

Has  our  republic  any  institutions  selfishly  blocking 
progress  and  sapping  our  vitality?  He  is  indeed  blind 
who  would  answer  no.  Fastened  upon  our  body  politic 
is  a  menace  threatening  our  very  life.  The  most  potent 
cause  of  sin,  sorrow,  and  misery  in  our  land  today  is 
the  legalized  liquor  traffic. 

Must  not  every  thoughtful  person  acknowledge  its 
importance?  We  are  confronted  on  every  side  by  its 
powerful  hand.  We  encounter  it  in  every  phase  of 
national  life.  It  is  a  social  question  because  society  has 
made  it  so !  It  is  an  economic  question  because  enormous 
wealth  has  made  it  so !  It  is  a  political  question  because 
our  Government  has  made  it  so !  And  it  is  a  moral 
question  because  God  has  made  it  so !  It  is  not  only  an 
economic,  social,  political  and  moral  question — it  is  that, 
and  more  than  that.  It  is  as  Lincoln  has  said,  "one  of  the 
greatest  ...  of  evils  among  mankind."  It  is  more 
than  a  question  to  be  solved ;  it  is  a  curse  to  be  removed ; 
a  sin  to  be  eradicated ;  a  parasite  to  be  annihilated. 

In  1865  Lincoln  said,  "After  reconstruction,  the  next 
great  question  will  be  the  overthrow  of  the  liquor  traffic." 
But  since  that  time  this  parasite  has  been  fastening  its 
grip  tighter  and  tighter  upon  the  vitals  of  our  democracy. 
From  the  time  of  Bacchus  men  have  drunk  to  excess, 
but  the  evil  has  not  always  been  an  organized  institution, 
legalized  and  nurtured  by  law.  Only  within  the  last  fifty 
years  has  our  Government  become  "The  Silent  Partner." 
Uncle  Sam  is  now  hand  in  hand  with  the  brewers,  and 
builds  great  storehouses  for  the  free  use  of  liquor.  There 
is  enough  rum  stored  in  the  government  warehouses  to 
supply  the  total  consumption  for  three  yea^s  if  there  were 
not  another  drop  distilled.  We  license  and  protect  this 
parasite  despite  the  fact  that  it  is  now  universally  con- 
demned. 

III. 

Reason  has  condemned  It!  Morality  has  condemned 
it !  Science  has  condemned  it !  Society  and  social  reform 
have  condemned  it!  Three-fourths  of  our  territory  has 
banished  it !  Fourteen  of  our  great  commonwealths  have 


16  WINNING   ORATIONS 

outlawed  it!  Even  our  Supreme  Court  has  judged  it 
worthy  of  death!  Yet  in  spite  of  all  this,  every  year 
sees  an  increase  in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  this 
poison.  This  tyrant  lives  and  flourishes,  grinding  up  our 
grain,  dehauching  our  men  and  women,  prostituting  our 
children,  polluting  the  blood  of  unborn  generations, 
damning  the  souls  of  its  victims,  and  hurling  the  nation 
headlong  to  imminent  catastrophe. 

It  transforms  the  loving  parent  into  the  fiendish 
demon !  It  transforms  the  ])romising  young  man  into 
the  worthless  wretch !  It  transforms  the  beautiful  pure 
girl  into  the  pitiable  maniac!  It  transforms  the  cool- 
headed  captain  of  the  Titanic  into  a  reckless  criminal ! 
Go  into  the  asylums,  the  jails,  the  streets  of  our  cities, 
the  cafes,  the  dens  of  vice,  yea,  even  into  our  homes,  and 
we  find  the  blight  of  its  sting! 

\\1iy  do  we  allow  such  a  menace  to  exist  ?  Why  do 
we  stand  idly  by  and  see  it  grow  larger  and  stronger 
when  we  could  stop  it  ?  Every  time  we  hold  an  election — 
county,  state,  or  national — the  opportunity  is  presented 
to  strike.  Every  four  years  since  1872  the  people  have 
had  a  chance  to  end  the  whole  nefarious  business  at  one 
stroke.  P)Ut  because  certain  political  parties  come  with 
their  brass  bands,  their  million-dollar  canijiaigns.  and 
their  indulgence  in  personalities,  we  go  to  the  polls  and 
vote  as  our  fathers  have  voted,  for  this  party,  and  that 
man.  instead  of  voting  for  right  and  for  principle. 

What  remedy  do  the  parties  offer?  The  Democratic 
Party  almost  a  century  old.  the  Republican  a  half  cent- 
ury, the  Socialist  a  (juarter  of  a  century,  and  lastly,  the 
Progressive  Party — four  generations  of  parties — and  not 
one  word  in  their  planks  against  the  gre:itest  evil  in  Amer- 
ica !  They  otfer  absolutely  no  solution.  At  every  national 
convention  resolutions  have  been  presented,  and  at  all 
entirely  ignored. 

There  is  only  one  party  that  has  dared  to  attack  the 
real  issue,  l-'or  nearly  a  half-century  the  Prohibition 
Party  "has  been  the  highest  and  most  perfect  expression 


OUR    NATIONAL    PARASITE  17 

of  the  political  demands  of  the  people."  Marvelous  seems 
the  prophetic  vision  with  which  she  has  foreseen  our  pres- 
ent-day problems ;  admirable  the  progress  of  her  con- 
structive programs : 

1872 Woman   Suffrage.      Direct  Election 

of  Senators. 

1876 International  Arbitration  and  World 

Peace. 

1888 Abolition  of  Polygamy  and  the  So- 
cial Evil.  Uniform  Marriage  and  Divorce 
Laws. 

1892 Government  Control  of  Public  Utili- 
ties. Social  Justice  Between  Capital  and 
Labor. 

She  has  initiated  these  and  many  other  reforms,  touching 
every  important  question  of  our  democracy  ;  but  first  and 
always  has  she  denounced  the  liquor  traffic  as  the  para- 
mount evil,  and  advocated  nation-wide  prohibition  as 
the  only  ultimate  remedy.  She  has  stooped  to  no  compro- 
mise, and  has  given  no  quarter.  She  has  consistently  pre- 
sented to  the  voters  an  opportunity  to  conquer  this  arch- 
enemy of  man.  Yet  last  November  less  than  two  per  cent 
of  the  entire  electorate  voted  with  her  against  this  foe.. 
Why  did  this  occur  ?  Why  are  we  so  indifferent  ?  Why 
do  we  not  unite  and  manifest  our  sentiments  against  this 
sin  by  our  votes?  Do  we  realize  that  we  hold  in  our 
hands  the  Deliverer?  Do  we  realize  also  that  we  are 
morally  responsible  for  our  votes? 

Men  may  cry  out  against  this  octopus  in  burning 
words ;  they  may  write  scathing  lines  against  it ;  they  may 
spend  their  time,  their  money,  and  even  their  blood,  in 
carrying  on  a  ceaseless  warfare — indeed  they  have  been 
doing  this  very  thing  for  years — but  the  only  effective 
weapon,  the  only  telling  instrument,  is  the  ballot. 

The  schools  may  educate  our  boys  and  girls  to  let  alco- 
hol alone ;  the  Church  may  sound  the  evils  of  intemper- 
ance ;  the  Government  may  try  to  regulate  and  control 
the  traffic ;  the  social  worker  may  rescue  a  few  victims 
from  the  abyss ;  but  so  long  as  rum  is  manufactured,  it 


18  WINNING   ORATIONS 

will  be  drunk.  The  only  effectual  way  to  eliminate  the 
drunkard  is  to  cease  creating  him ;  the  only  way  to  cease 
creating  him  is  to  kill  the  institution  that  makes  him ;  the 
only  instrument  of  death  to  this  institution  is  the  ballot. 
We,  dear  friends,  have  in  our  hands  the  power  to  rid  our 
land  of  this  devastating  plague.  It  was  created  by  lazv:  it 
is  nurtured  by  lazv;  and  it  must  be  destroyed  by  laze.  The 
rum  traffic  blocks  the  path  of  progress.  The  question 
cannot  be  evaded,  it  cannot  be  ignored,  it  must  be  settled. 
The  time  is  now. 

V. 

I  appeal  to  you,  men  and  women  of  this  enlightened 
age,  to  consider  these  facts.  I  appeal  to  you,  voters  of 
this  Christian  land,  to  awaken  to  the  peril,  and  use  the 
God-given  right  of  suft'rage  without  delay.  I  a])peal  to 
you,  young  ])e()j)le  of  college,  in  the  name  of  progress,  to 
lead  in  this,  the  greatest  service  to  mankind — moral  eman- 
cipation. 

The  whole  world  is  listening  for  the  shout  of  victory. 
Let  us  fight  with  the  ballot,  until  we  finally  triumph. 
Free  our  soil  from  this  scourge  by  voting  unitedly  against 
it!  Let  the  fallacy  of  license  die.  I'c  not  blinded  by 
com])romise.  No  longer  regulate  and  i)rotect  this  para- 
site for  the  sake  of  revenue,  but  rise  in  the  spirit  of  lib- 
erty— the  spirit  that  gave  birth  to  our  native  land,  the 
spirit  that  saved  her  from  disunion  and  slavery — rise, 
and  ballot  for  principle.  Let  us  make  this  a  land  where 
equal  opportunity  is  the  privilege  of  all,  where  the  sov- 
ereign voter  is  morally  free,  and  where  the  people  and 
the  government  are  one. 


HENRY  C.  JACOBS. 
Second  Honors,  National  of  1914. 


Henry  C.  Jacobs 

A  native  of  northwestern  Iowa,  Henry  C.  Jacobs  was 
born  on  a  farm  near  Alton  in  1889,  twenty-five  years 
before  he  won  second  honors  in  the  I.  P.  A.  National 
Oratorical  Contest  of  1914.  He  received  his  early  educa- 
tion in  the  little  white  country  schoolhouse,  where  he 
attended  until  he  was  fourteen,  working  on  the  farm 
during  vacations  and  after  school  hours. 

At  seventeen  he  entered  the  Northwestern  Classical 
Academy  at  Orange  City.  After  graduation  there  in 
1910  he  entered  Hope  College  at  Holland,  Mich.,  where 
the  work  of  the  ministry  and  the  cause  of  missions  soon 
began  to  have  a  new  interest  in  his  life. 

The  organization  of  a  branch  of  the  Intercollegiate 
Prohibition  Association  at  Hope  College  in  December  of 
his  junior  year  opened  to  the  ambitious  but  formerly 
reserved  student  a  new  and  attractive  field.  The  work 
of  the  Association  appealed  to  him  strongly,  both  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  study  of  the  liquor  problem  and 
from  the  standpoint  of  its  oratorical  features.  In  com- 
petition with  four  of  his  fellow  students  he  entered  and 
won  the  local  contest  in  March,  19 13.  In  April  he  took 
first  place  in  the  state  contest  at  Albion  and  in  November 
won  his  third  successive  victory  by  capturing  the  Eastern 
Interstate  held  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  in  connection  with 
the  national  convention  of  the  Anti-Saloon  League. 

Mr.  Jacobs  graduated  from  Hope  College  with  the 
class  of  1914,  and  the  following  year  took  up  a  theological 
course  at  the  same  institution.  During  his  college  course 
he  was  actively  engaged  in  Y.  M.  C.  A.  activities  and 
in  social  and  religious  work  both  in  and  outside  of 
college.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Cosmopolitan 
Literary    Society. 

His  first  interest  in  the  anti-liquor  crusade  dates  back 
to  the  oft-repeated  injunction  of  his  father,  ''Never  take 

21 


22  WINNING  ORATIONS 

your  first  glass  and  you'll  never  take  your  second/'  His 
home  community  was  one  in  which  drunkenness  was 
looked  upon  as  a  shame  and  a  disgrace.  During  the 
summer  of  1914  he  took  the  field  in  the  interests  of  the 
Anti-Saloon  League  of  Illinois.  The  organization  work 
and  the  immediate  contact  with  the  forces  of  the  liquor 
traffic  which  this  experience  afforded  him  served  only 
to  strengthen  his  former  convictions.  His  realization  of 
the  relationship  of  social  problems  to  the  work  of  the 
minister  and  of  the  liquor  traffic  to  social  problems  has 
determined  his  future  attitude  toward  the  liquor  traffic. 


Watchman,  What  of  the  Night? 


By  Henry  C.  Jacobs, 
Hope  College,  '14. 

Second  Honors,  National  Contest  of  1914. 
Winner  of  Eastern  Interstate,  1913. 

(In   the   National    this   oration   was   ranked   first  in    thought   and 
composition  and  tied  for  second  in  delivery.) 

The  twentieth  century  program  of  progress  includes  a 
great  moral  combat.  Religious  convictions  and  utilitarian 
motives  are  combining  to  consummate  the  most  universal 
and  permanent  reform  of  all  time.  Conditions  every- 
where point  to  the  ultimate  solution  of  the  liquor  prob- 
lem. While  the  catastrophe  of  European  nations  shat- 
ters the  dream  of  pacifists,  and  the  ghastly  carnage  of 
war  defies  peace  palaces,  rulers  have  halted  to  arrest  in 
their  own  camp  the  ravages  of  the  demon  alcohol.  Con- 
temporaneous with  the  struggle  for  power,  or  for  venge- 
ance, in  which  only  nations  can  win,  goes  on  the  struggle 
against  the  destroyer  of  manhood,  in  which  the  whole 
world  shall  be  victorious. 

The  recent  action  of  belligerent  world  powers  marks 
a  great  advance  in  the  anti-liquor  movement.  England 
demanding  efficiency  in  warfare,  proposes  a  sober  sol- 
diery. France,  despairing  at  her  army  dissipation,  destroys 
her  casks  of  absinthe.  Germany,  demanding  clear  brains 
and  steady  hands,  puts  the  ban  on  beer.  Russia,  remem- 
bering her  defeat  at  the  hands  of  Japan,  and  holding  the 
life  of  her  peasantry  more  dear  than  government  revenue, 
interdicts  for  all  time  the  sale  of  vodka. 

Not  at  all  surprising  is  this  change  of  attitude  when 
viewed  in   the   light   of  present-day   scientific  evidence. 

23 


\18-\       Tv,  9 


24  WINNING   ORATIONS 

The  chemical  laboratory  pronounces  alcohol  a  protoplas- 
mic poison.  The  factory  and  workshop  brand  it  as  the 
foe  of  efficiency.  The  alienists  and  neurologists,  medical 
experts  of  our  country,  in  convention  at  Chicago  in  July, 
condemned  unanimously  the  use  of  alcoholic  beverages 
and  recommended  prohibitive  legislation.  In  October, 
at  the  third  annual  Congress  of  Industrial  Safety  held 
at  Chicago,  resolutions  were  adopted  pledging  its  mem- 
bers toward  the  elimination  of  the  use  of  alcoholic  stimu- 
lants among  the  employes  of  their  shops  and  factories. 
Such  is  the  unimpeachable  testimony  of  science  and  in- 
dustry. Convince  the  masses  of  these  facts,  and  the 
ancient  Dynasty  of  Alcohol  shall  forever  abdicate  its  re- 
lentless reign. 

The  demand  for  civic  righteousness  likewise  pro- 
nounces its  verdict  against  the  saloon.  The  ruling  ele- 
ment in  society  will  no  longer  tolerate  corrupt  ])olitics. 
And  it  can  be  conceived  that  our  government,  which  is 
disciplining  mighty  cori)orations,  which  is  everywhere  de- 
manding publicity,  which  is  a  model  for  the  rising  repub- 
lics of  the  world,  shall  overlook  the  flagrant  corruption 
of  a  traffic  which  is  ever  encouraging  short-penciling  and 
the  fraudulent  ballot?  When  it  is  known  that  brewers 
and  distillers  are  employing  the  most  underhanded  strate- 
gies to  maintain  their  respectability  in  industry  and  their 
prestige  in  government ;  when  it  is  revealed  that  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars  was  offered  to  moving  picture  con- 
cerns to  keep  them  from  presenting  Jack  London's  "John 
Barleycorn  ;"  when  it  has  transpired  that  in  Illinois  during 
the  spring  campaign  the  saloon  interests  attempted  to 
influence  the  widow  vote  with  the  price  of  a  sack  of  flour 
and  a  box  of  groceries  ;  and  that  brewers,  with  their  lavish 
sums  to  bestow  upon  lying  liijuor  advertisements,  are 
subsidizing  a  great  number — thank  God,  not  all — of  the 
newspapers  and  periodicals  of  our  country ;  when  it  is 
evident  that  with  their  attractive  doctrines  of  personal 
liberty  and  home  rule  they  are  still  hoodwinking  the  un- 
wary voter, — in  the  face  of  these  facts,  is  it  reasonable 
to  exempt  the  liquor  interests  from  speedy  condign  pun- 
ishment ?  Nay,  rather,  we  shall  hunt  out  the  hidden 
strategies  until  the  last  trace  of  the  cruel  blackness  of  this 


WATCHMAN,   WHAT  OF  THE   NIGHT?  25 

iniquity  shall  have  been  brought  to  the  bar  of  judgment. 
To  do  the  opposite  were  to  make  a  lie  of  patriotism,  to 
pronounce  self-government  an  impossibility,  and  republi- 
can liberty  a  farce  and  a  mockery. 

Equally  inevitable  is  the  overthrow  of  the  liquor  trade 
because  of  the  prevailing  spirit  of  altruism.  The  altru- 
ism that  permits  the  existence  of  an  institution  which  it- 
self furnishes  the  objects  for  charity,  is  a  most  glaring 
contradiction.  And  yet  there  exists  in  modern  society 
just  such  an  inconsistency.  Philanthropy  strives  to  al- 
leviate human  suffering,  while  the  saloon  aggravates 
misery  and  distress.  In  every  state,  as  symbols  of  our 
nation's  good  will,  stands  the  asylum  for  the  weak  and 
aged,  for  the  fatherless  and  motherless,  for  the  insane 
and  feeble-minded ;  while  over  against  these,  as  symbols 
of  the  crudest  malevolence  of  all  ages,  stands  the  grog- 
shop, fostering  human  imbecility,  turning  youth  to  age, 
making  children  parentless,  and  swelling  the  lists  of  the 
mentally  diseased  and  deficient.  During  the  last  few 
months  millions  of  sympathizing  Americans  have  sent 
across  the  waters  to  the  nations  in  Europe  grappling  in 
fratracidal  conflict,  the  Yuletide  cargoes  of  ''Peace,  Good 
Will  toward  Men ;"  while  the  fact  that  liquor  every  year 
claims  the  life  of  more  than  100,000  of  our  countrymen 
is  looked  upon  with  the  coldest  complacency.  Can  these 
opposites  continue  to  exist  side  by  side?  Shall  our  citi- 
zens, devoted  to  universal  physical  well-being,  condone 
the  sale  of  intoxicants  which  have  been  proven  to  be  the 
greatest  promoters  of  disease?  Shall  Christianity  allow 
her  defences  to  be  battered  in  pieces  by  perpetuating  the 
inconsistency  of  seeking  to  promote  humanity's  welfare 
and  failing  to  eliminate  humanity's  destroyer?  Such  a 
flagrant  subversion  of  reason  is  beyond  my  comprehen- 
sion. As  long  as  my  country  lives,  as  long  as  Christianity 
has  power  and  rational  philanthropy  has  meaning,  I 
cannot  conceive  of  such  a  situation. 

But  all  this  evidence  in  itself  cannot  entirely  effect  the 
overthrow  of  the  liquor  traffic.  The  facts  gathered  from 
science  and  industry,  the  revelations  resulting  from  the 
demand  for  civic  righteousness,  and  the  conditions 
brought   to    our   attention    by   the    prevailing   spirit   of 


26  WINNING   ORATIONS 

altruism,  these  will  remain  impotent,  divorced  from  public 
information  and  public  conviction.  Here,  however,  we 
receive  new  encouragement.  Never  before  has  there 
been  such  a  movement  to  enlighten  the  public  in  regard 
to  the  deleterious  effects  of  alcohol — a  movement  that  is 
enlisting  an  intelligent  citizenship  which  is  learning  to 
place  public  morals  above  private  aggrandizement  and 
men  and  principles  above, party  adherence;  a  movement 
that  has  prompted  ninety-seven  national  uplift  organiza- 
tions unitedly  to  focus  their  individual  activity  upon  the 
national  abolition  of  the  liquor  traffic ;  a  movement  that 
is  today  sending  the  Flying  Squadron  into  a  hundred  and 
twenty  metropolitan  liquor  strongholds  of  our  country, 
to  make  universal  and  to  crystallize  into  concrete  action 
the  sentiment  which  the  unimpeachable  facts  have  cre- 
ated ;  a  movement  that  is  stirring  up  our  governors  and 
our  greatest  statesmen,  ashamed  that  America  has  failed 
to  solve  in  peace  what  Russia  has  solved  in  war,  and 
convinced  that  that  colossal  miracle  of  prohibition  which 
is  in  successful  operation  in  a  nation  of  150,000,000  peo- 
ple and  is  diverting  a  daily  vodka  bill  of  $15,000,000  into 
channels  of  legitimate  business,  shall  also  be  made  opera- 
tive in  our  own  United  States.  It  is  a  movement  that  is 
responsible  for  this  convention  of  college  men,  conceived 
for  the  purpose  of  stimulating  among  the  future  leaders 
of  America  a  conviction  that  will  cause  them  to  be  con- 
sumed with  zeal  to  participate  in  the  present-day  nation- 
wide anti-liquor  cam]^aign,  the  greatest  and  the  most 
magnificent  in  the  history  of  moral  reform. 

Ikit,  you  say,  you  arc  underestimating  the  strength  of 
your  foe.  No,  we  see  the  organized  liquor  traffic  stand 
like  a  mighty  monster  ready  to  defy  every  attempt  to  en- 
croach upon  its  self-assumed  prerogative.  There  it  stands, 
— falsifying  truth  by  its  unscrupulous  devices  ;  controlling 
legislatures  with  its  blood-tainted  revenue ;  converting 
the  ])ublic  press,  the  moulder  of  ]wpular  sentiment,  into 
a  dccejitive  macliine  of  destruction  ;  ap])ealing,  under  the 
guise  of  a  public  benefactor,  to  the  lowest  passions  and 
the  basest  appetites  of  man.  There  it  stands,  inij^osing 
upon  the  unwary  voter  forgeries  against  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  and  Abraham  Lincoln.     There  it  stands,  positively 


WATCHMAN,   WHAT  OF  THE   NIGHT?  27 

forbidden  to  interfere  with  temperance  education  in 
the  schools,  yet  nulHfying  that  very  government  stat- 
ute by  placing  in  every  library  liquor  publications  filled 
with  distorted  ^cts  and  crooked  logic.  There  it  stands, 
positively  forbidden  to  interfere  with  the  church,  yet 
turning  Christian  converts  into  drunken  madmen,  blas- 
pheming Almighty  God  and  blackening  nature's  pure  air 
with  curses  and  profanity.  There  it  stands — lives — 
prospers ! 

You  ask  me,  by  what  method,  then,  shall  we  proceed 
to  solve  the  problem?  My  dear  friends,  the  question  is 
not  a  question  of  method.  It  is  a  question  primarily  of 
faithfulness  to  principle,  to  reason,  to  sound  judgment. 
Out  of  converted  convictions  will  rise  spontaneously  the 
instruments  of  warfare.  Just  as  aroused  America  freed  • 
the  slave,  and  awakened  China  banished  opium  from  her 
borders,  so  will  our  country,  when  once  thoroughly 
aroused  tear  from  her  bosom  this  venemous  serpent. 
Watchman,  what  of  the  night?  Once  the  people  of  our 
country  fully  realize  this  abomination  of  desolatfon  they 
have  hitherto  permitted  to  stand  within  their  boundaries, 
I  am  convinced  that,  in  the  name  of  patriotism,  in  the 
name  of  Christianity,  in  the  name  of  true  liberty,  a  nobler 
citizenship  will  rise  in  mighty  protest  against  this  ancient, 
blighting  curse,  this  criminal  of  all  the  ages.  Verily,  I 
see  the  last  shadow  of  the  dark  prince  of  alcohol  fade 
before  the  rising  sun  of  an  enlightened  century. 


Herbert  M.  Wyrick 

The  winner  of  the  first  Southern.  Interstate  contest  of 
the  I.  P.  A.  took  third  honors  in  the  1914  National, 
when  Herbert  M.  Wyrick,  of  Carson-Newman  College, 
Tennessee,  represented  the  southern  states  and  delivered 
his  masterly  oration,  "The  Spirit  of  the  Constitution." 
Mr.  Wyrick's  oration  was  especially  strong  in  thought 
and  composition,  and  he  made  a  strong  bid  for  one  of  the 
first  two  places. 

Mr.  Wyrick  is  one  of  the  many  student  orators  who 
have  utilized  the  I.  P.  A.  contests  as  a  i)ractical  step  in 
their  training  for  public  speaking  and  a  future  public 
career.  All  his  student  activities  were  along  the  lines  of 
public  address.  Although  he  had  participated  in  two 
intercollegiate  debates  and  three  oratorical  contests,  prior 
to  the  I.  P.  A.  National  he  had  a  record  of  never  having 
been  defeated  in  a  debating  or  oratorical  contest. 

His  first  impulse  toward  the  anti-licjuor  movement 
came  to  him  throuij^h  the  study  class  work  of  the  I.  P.  A. 
at  Carson- Xewman.  He  first  entered  the  oratorical  con- 
tests of  the  Association  in  19 14,  when  he  won  successively 
the  local,  state  and  interstate  events.  In  19 13,  and  again 
in  1914,  he  was  a  member  of  the  winning  team  which 
represented  his  college  in  intercollegiate  debate. 

In  addition  to  these  activities  he  was  Philomathean 
Society  orator  in  191 2,  president  and  critic  of  the  Society 
in  1914,  and  president  of  his  class  and  member  of  the 
Student  Council  during  his  senior  year.  He  was  gradu- 
ated from  Carson-Newman  in  H)ic^  with  the  degree 
of   A.B. 

Mr.  Wyrick's  college  training  was  in  preparation  for 
the  profession  of  law  and  politics,  and  he  dotinitely  shaj^ed 
his  course  toward  that  end.  During  the  fall  canijiaign 
of  I()i4  he  gained  valuable  practical  experience  in  the 
realm  of  jiolitics  when  he  took  the  field  in  the  interests 

2S 


HERBERT  M.  WYRICK, 
Southern  Orator  for  1914  in  the  National  of  1914. 


HERBERT   M.    WYRICK  31 

of  the  anti-liquor  candidate  for  governor.  He  was  on 
the  stump  almost  continuously  and  helped  to  put  up  a 
red-hot  fight. 

His  ambition  is  to  represent  the  First  Congressional 
District  of  Tennessee  in  Congress,  and  he  is  determined 
to  achieve  that  ambition.  When  he  succeeds  he  has 
pledged  himself  to  work  for  a  constitutional  amendment 
declaring  for  national  prohibition,  in  case  such  a  measure 
is  not  passed  before  that  time. 


The  Spirit  of  the  Constitution 

By  Herbert  M.  Wyrick, 
Carson-Newman  College,  '15. 

Orator  in  National  Contest  of  1914. 
Winner  Southern  Interstate,  1914. 

The  object  of  our  fathers  in  framing  the  Constitution 
was  to  devise  an  instrument  adecjuate  to  the  exigencies 
of  government  and  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  The 
immediate  design  in  the  formation  of  the  Constitution 
was  the  common  defense  of  the  nation.  But  the  ultimate 
purposes  of  the  founders  of  the  Republic  were  to  promote 
the  general  welfare  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to 
tiiemselves  and  their  posterity. 

The  Constitution  does  not  create  the  privileges  of  citi- 
zenship. Within  itself  it  is  neither  the  origin  of  liberty 
nor  the  fountain  of  law.  When  the  American  peoi)le  in 
their  sovereign  capacity  l)rought  forth  a  new  nation,  they 
declared  that  all  men  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with 
certain  inalienable  rights,  (iovcrnment  is  a  divine  insti- 
tution growing  out  of  the  moral  law.  This  law  prevails 
by  divine  ordination.  Man  can  not  alter  it  any  more  than 
he  can  change  the  course  of  the  stars.  God's  mandates 
are  eternal,  indestructible,  and  supreme.  Xor  does  man 
make  law  any  more  than  the  astronomer  creates  planets. 
From  the  Lick  Observatory  on  Mount  Hamilton,  through 
the  most  powerfully  constructed  telescope  science  has  de- 
vised, astronomers  explore  the  star-sown  abyss  of  infi- 
nite space,  not  to  form  celestial  orbs  in  the  heavens,  but 
to  discover  what  God  has  ])laced  there.  In  like  manner 
the  work  of  legislative  bodies  is  to  ascertain  the  immutable 
laws  of  God,  and  to  enact  them  into  statutes  for  human 
government.  When  these  laws  are  proclaimed  the  gov- 
ernment   is   without   option   in   its   attitude  toward   their 

Z2 


THE    SPIRIT    OF    THE    CONSTITUTION  33 

application.  The  purpose  of  government  is  the  enforce- 
ment of  right  and  the  prohibition  of  wrong.  When  any 
institution  is  judged  in  the  hght  of  this  truth  and  found 
to  be  inlierently  evil,  it  is  condemned,  if  not  by  statute, 
by  the  unwritten  law  expressed  in  the  spirit  of  the  Consti- 
tution. It  then  becomes  the  imperative  obligation  of  civil 
government  to  place  such  an  institution  forever  under  the 
ban  of  the  nation's  law. 

Let  us  try  the  saloon  in  the  light  of  the  purposes  of 
government  expressed  in  the  Constitution.  The  decision 
shall  be  rendered  by  an  impartial  tribunal — our  national 
Supreme  Court.  This  body  is  neither  religious, 
political,  nor  reformatory  in  its  nature.  Its  duty  is  to 
declare  void  any  law  that  contravenes  the  provisions  of 
the  Constitution.  No  man  can  question  the  judicial  decla- 
rations of  this  tribunal.  Its  decisions  form  a  part  of  the 
supreme  law  of  the  nation.  If  the  verdict  rendered  is 
unfavorable  to  the  saloon,  then  in  accordance  with  the 
spirit  of  the  Constitution,  it  is  the  pledged  duty  of  the 
government  to  eradicate  this  institution  forever  from 
our  land. 

The  liquor  traffic  is  a  social  cesspool,  freighting  the 
air  with  the  pernicious  germs  of  moral  and  material  pesti- 
lence. Its  history  is  written  in  tears  and  in  blood.  When 
Grendel  ravaged  the  mead-hall  of  Hrothgar,  his  destruc- 
tion fell  on  only  those  individuals  who  were  the  victims 
of  his  immediate  presence ;  but  when  the  alcohol  fiend 
darkens  the  home,  his  baneful  influence  debauches  the 
character  of  the  father,  destroys  the  happiness  of  the 
mother,  transmits  his  malignant  nature  to  the  innocent 
babe,  and  an  immortal  being  is  not  born  but  damned 
into  existence.  WHien  Tamerlane  had  finished  his  pyra- 
mid of  seventy  thousand  human  skulls,  and  stood  at  the 
gate  of  Damascus  glittering  in  steel,  the  sun  of  manhood 
seemed  setting  in  seas  of  blood.  The  devastation  wrought 
by  this  conquering  chieftain  with  his  demons  of  battle  is 
passing  from  the  memories  of  men.  But  King  Alcohol 
has  erected  throughout  the  centuries  a  monument  of  vic- 
tims more  colossal  than  the  conquests  of  the  Tartar  Khan, 
and  has  destroyed  more  human  lives  than  all  the  wars  of 
historv. 


34  WINNING   ORATIONS 

Through  impetus  lent  by  governmental  sanction  the 
saloon  has  become  a  power  for  evil,  perverting  the  public 
conscience  and  defying  the  majesty  of  the  law.  In  1861 
America  was  thrust  into  the  awful  throes  of  a  mighty 
struggle.  The  call  to  arms  echoed  throughout  the  land. 
The  Republic  required  defenders,  but  it  also  needed 
the  sinews  of  war.  In  demand  to  the  exigencies 
of  the  hour  Congress  created  the  Bureau  of  Internal 
Revenue.  Thus,  this  government  entered  into  partner- 
ship with  an  iniquity  which  is  the  darkest  blot  on  civili- 
zation and  a  lurid  stain  on  the  American  flag. 

Gradually  the  saloon  grew  in  power  until  today  it  is 
the  most  corrupt  element  in  politics,  ll  is  the  refuge  of 
criminals,  the  rallying  place  of  venal  voters,  the  deadliest 
foe  of  civic  righteousness.  Through  its  influence  elec- 
tions have  been  corrupted,  legislators  debased,  and  states- 
men dishonored.  It  blights  the  fairest  fruits  of  Democ- 
racy. It  is  the  admitted  peril  of  free  institutions.  As  an 
organized  source  of  crime  and  misery,  it  forms  a  peril 
fraught  with  greater  danger  to  the  Republic  in  these  times 
of  peace  than  a  conquering  army  in  time  of  war. 

In  the  light  of  principles  established  by  the  Supreme 
Court,  the  deteriorating  influences  of  the  saloon  upon 
the  home  and  society  place  this  institutic^n  in  diametrical 
opposition  to  the  ])uri)oses  of  government  expressed  in 
the  Constitution.  Arguments  advanced  in  defense  of  the 
liquor  traffic  have  been  swept  away  like  cobwebs.  The 
Court  says,  "There  are  few  sources  of  crime  and  misery 
to  society  equal  to  the  dram  shop."  Indiana's  supreme 
tribunal  pronounced  the  saloon  immoral,  illegal,  and  un- 
constitutional. Ciod  s])eed  the  day  when  by  our  national 
tribunal  a  mandate  may  be  laid  down  forbidding  govern- 
mental com])licity  in  humanity's  greatest  curse. 

The  action  of  our  law-making  department  in  legalizing 
the  saloon  is  unconstitutional.  The  Constitution  pre- 
scribes the  forms  and  limits  the  powers  of  the  govern- 
ment. All  legislation  must  be  in  conformity  with  this 
instrument  as  our  organic  and  fundamental  law.  There 
is  a  principle  of  right  and  justice,  inherent  in  the  spirit 
of  the  Constitution,  which  rises  above  and  sets  bounds 
to  and  restraints  upon  the  power  of  the  legislature.      In 


THE   SPIRIT   OF   THE    CONSTITUTION  35 

accordance  with  this  principle,  the  Court  declared  that  no 
legislature  can  bargain  away  the  public  health  or  the 
public  morals.  The  liquor  traffic  endangers  the  peace, 
safety,  health,  and  morality  of  the  nation.  In  the  case  of 
Crowley  vs.  Christensen,  the  Court  says:  "Statistics  show 
a  greater  amount  of  crime  and  misery  arising  from  the 
saloon  than  from  any  other  source."  Ry  reason  of  the 
universally  known  evil  character  of  the  liquor  traffic,  and 
its  injurious  effects  upon  society,  the  saloon  is  within  it- 
self unlawful,  and  thus  it  is  beyond  the  power  of  the 
legislature  to  legalize  such  an  institution.  In  legalizing 
the  saloon  this  government  has  over-ridden  the  Consti- 
tution, and  has  brought  into  disrepute  America's  supreme 
tribunal.  If  in  the  light  of  advanced  civilization  the 
statute  legalizing  the  saloon  is  lield  valid,  the  spirit  of  the 
Constitution  is  nullified,  and  the  preeminence  of  the 
judiciary  is  gone  like  a  morning  mist. 

But  this  can  not  be.  Our  Supreme  Court  will  ulti- 
mately prohibit  civil  government  from  legalizing  the 
iniquitous  liquor  traffic.  It  is  the  high  function  of  the 
judiciary  to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  legislature  when- 
ever that  body  transcends  its  constitutional  powers.  It  is 
its  inherent  duty  to  interpret  the  rights  of  civil  govern- 
ment in  accordance  with  the  requirements  of  immutable 
law  as  revealed  in  the  light  of  advanced  civilization. 
Judged  by  the  standard  of  good  and  evil,*higlier  and  more 
sacredly  binding  than  any  human  mandate,  the  saloon 
stands  condemned  unequivocally  and  without  mercy  or 
mitigation.  The  eternal  principles  of  right  and  wrong, 
emblazoned  by  a  revelation  from  on  high,  and  applied  by 
a  sleepless  and  unerring  monitor  within,  are  guiding  our 
highest  tribunal  in  a  decision  which  will  proclaim  human- 
ity and  the  law  of  God  paramount  above  the  enactments 
of  legislative  bodies.  That  decision  will  mark  the  bright- 
est day  in  the  world's  progress,  and  will  inscribe  the  name 
of  the  jurist  on  a  fair  and  everlasting  monument  after 
the  vain  titles  of  kings  and  conquerers  have  crumbled 
into  dust. 

In  declaring  the  saloon  unconstitutional  the  judiciary 
w^ill  remove  from  our  midst  the  most  threatening  menace 
to  the  perpetuity  of  this  government.    We  are  trying  the 


36  WINNING   ORATIONS 

grandest  political  experiment  the  world  ever  witnessed. 
The  testimony  of  all  history  warns  us  not  to  feel  too 
secure.  A  voice  from  the  tombs  of  the  departed  repub- 
lics tells  us  that  if  our  liberty  is  to  be  ultimately  pre- 
served it  is  at  the  price  of  eternal  vigilance.  The  ven- 
omous saloon,  poisoning  the  fountains  of  virtue  and  im- 
peding the  progress  of  mankind,  is  the  deadliest  foe  of 
the  American  commonwealth.  Our  national  judiciary 
must  respond  to  the  just  and  righteous  demands  of  en- 
lightened civilization,  and  consign  the  saloon  to  perpetual 
oblivion,  or  henceforth  we  must  retrograde  as  a  nation 
until  dissolution  takes  place,  and  this  republic  will  go 
glimmering  through  the  dreams  of  things  that  were.  But 
ere  that  time  comes,  Columbia's  supreme  tribunal,  sitting 
in  garments  of  unsullied  liberty,  will  issue  a  righteous 
mandate  forbidding  governmental  sanction  of  earth's 
greatest  evil.  Then  when  triumphant  victory  crowns  the 
temperance  reform,  wherever  the  sun  shines  on  our 
national  domain,  the  Stars  and  Stripes  will  waive  a  stain- 
less emblem,  and  America  will  be  a  saloonless  nation. 


ETHEL  L.  BEDIEXT. 
Eastern  Orator  for  1914  in  tin-  National  of  1914. 


Ethel  L.  Bedient 

For  the  second  time  in  the  history  of  the  I.  P.  A. 
contest  system  a  young  woman  quahfied  for  a  national 
contest  in  1914,  and  entered  the  National  of  that  year. 
This  young  woman  was  Miss  Ethel  L.  Bedient,  a  junior 
''co-ed"  at  Albion  College,  Michigan.  In  winning  the 
honor  of  competing  in  the  National  Miss  Bedient  took 
the  lead  over  five  men  in  the  Eastern  Interstate  held  at 
Albion  on  Friday,  November  13,  securing  first  place  on 
thought  and  composition  at  the  hands  of  the  three 
judges. 

Miss  Bedient  was  a  thoroughly  ''game"  contestant, 
and  entered  the  lists  asking  no  favors.  Her  only  fear 
before  entering  the  contest  was  that  the  gallantry  of  the 
six  male  orators  might  give  her  an  undue  advantage  over 
her  competitors.  With  an  oration  strongly  feministic 
in  its  appeal  she  spoke  with  the  ease  and  persuasiveness 
of  an  experienced  orator,  and  held  the  closest  attention 
of  the  audience  from  start  to  finish. 

Her  record  at  Albioji  College  is  proof  that  Miss 
Bedient  is  an  ardent  devotee  of  the  strenuous  life.  She 
is  working  her  way  through  college  and  says  she's  having 
the  time  of  her  life.  In  addition  to  her  collegiate  duties 
she  finds  time  to  serve  as  a  member  of  the  Student 
Senate,  associate  editor  of  the  college  paper,  assistant 
in  the  Biological  department,  secretary  to  the  head  of 
the  English  department,  secretary  of  the  Michigan  Sun- 
day School  Association,  social  chairman  of  an  organized 
Bible  Study  class,  and  a  regular  visitor  at  a  home  for 
boys,  in  which  she  is  deeply  interested. 

Miss  Bedient  ranks  high  in  scholarship  at  Albion  and 
is  a  member  of  several  honorary  student  societies,  the 
members  of  which  are  chosen  on  the  basis  of  scholarship. 
She  is  also  a  member  of  the  Sorosis  Literary  Society. 
Along  with  her   scholastic   activities   she  has   a  healthy 

39 


40  WINNING   ORATIONS 

interest  in  athletics.  L^or  two  years  she  played  on  the 
college  tennis  team. 

In  her  freshman  year  ]Miss  Bedient  won  the  State 
Contest  for  women  conducted  by  the  Michigan  Oratorical 
League.  During  the  presidential  campaign  of  1912  she 
did  considerable  stump  speaking  for  the  Progressive 
Party,  in  the  course  of  which  she  found  frequent  occa- 
sion to  boost  the  prohibition  movement. 

Miss  Bedient  was  born  in  Deckerville,  Mich.,  on  De- 
cember 22,  1892.  In  1909  she  graduated  from  the  high 
school  of  her  home  town,  having  the  highest  standing 
of  any  in  her  class.  After  graduation  she  engaged  for 
two  years  in  office  work  and  taught  for  one  year  in  the 
Deckerville  public  schools.  She  entered  Albion  College 
in  1912. 


An  Open  Fight 

By  Ethel  L.  Bedient, 
Albion  College,  'i6. 

Orator  in  National  Contest  of  1914. 
Winner  of  Eastern  Interstate,  1914. 

The  liquor  problem  is  a  broad  one,  and  our  study  of  it 
must  be  of  equal  breadth.  It  is  not  a  question  of  morals, 
of  hygiene,  of  industry,  nor  even  of  politics  ;  it  is  a  ques- 
tion of  all  of  these  combined.  Therefore,  no  one  plan  of 
attack  can  adequately  cope  with  it.  However,  when  the 
curse  of  the  saloon  crosses  our  lives,  impulsively  and 
confidently  we  cry  out :  "  We  will  crush  this  thing !  If 
we  cannot  compete  with  the  saloon  we  will  kill  our  com- 
petitor! True,  that  is  a  natural  and  very  commendable 
feeling;  it  is  right  for  us  to  hate  the  saloon,  for  it  ruins 
people  we  love.  I,  too,  am  heartily  in  favor  of  legal  pro- 
hibition. But  why  need  we  discuss  it  together  when  we 
are  agreed  that  it  is  necessary  and  eventual  ? 

However,  is  legal  prohibition  the  cure-all  of  the  drink 
curse?  Hand  in  hand  with  these  repressive  measures 
must  go  constructive  measures.  Why  is  the  saloon  here  ? 
Does  it  supply  a  social  need  ?  Are  we  certain  that  we 
cannot  compete  with  it?  Is  there  any  constructive  plan 
whereby  you  and  I  can  aid  prohibition  and  the  annihila- 
tion of  the  saloon  ?  This  side  of  the  question,  not  neces- 
sarily because  of  its  greater  importance,  but  because  of  its 
infrequent  discussion,  I  wish  to  present  to  you  tonight. 

The  very  location  of  saloons  proves  that  they  do  supply 
a  neglected  social  need.  In  our  large  cities  we  find  few 
or  no  saloons  near  the  residences  of  skilled  workers  or 
wealthy  men.  But  wherever  the  poor  live,  or  work,  there 
are  saloons,  wide-open,  inviting.  Around  them  are  men 
working  in  unnatural  conditions  to  which  their  bodies  are 

41 


42  WINNING    ORATIONS 

not  yet  adapted.  They  are  underpaid,  overworked,  im- 
properly or  insufficiently  fed  ;  their  lungs  are  robbed  of 
the  necessary  amount  of  pure  air ;  their  nerves  are  snap- 
ping under  the  strain  of  constant  speeding.  When  night 
comes  their  bodies  demand  some  sort  of  relief.  Xot  be- 
cause these  men  are  inherently  wicked,  but  because  they 
are  underdeveloped  and  overworked,  do  they  crave 
something  to  sate  their  appetites.  If  they  were  paid  a 
living  wage  they  could  buy  nourishing  food  and  better 
homes  ;  a  few  hours  of  recreation  in  a  bracing  wind  would 
renew  their  vigor  for  another  day's  work.  But,  as  they 
cannot  have  natural  relief,  they  turn  to  the  unnatural 
stimuli  of  lic|uor  and  its  accompanying  vice.  Blame 
them  ?  We  who  have  good  homes,  agreeable  tasks,  and 
long  hours  for  play  and  rest  ?  Xo,  we  must  not  censure 
until  we  understand.  We  must  not  say  to  them.  "  Touch 
not  that  unclean  thing"  until  we  supply  the  clean.  Re- 
membering the  good  influences  in  our  lives  that  make 
us  what  we  arc,  have  only  compassion  for  them  in  their 
piteous  attcm])t  to  feel  for  one  l)rief  momciU  that  thev 
live ! 

Intemperance,  then,  is  as  much  a  result  of  poor 
housing  and  im])ropcr  nourishment  as  it  is  a  cause. 
The  saloon  thrives  upon  the  fruits  of  a  wrong  economic 
system,  and  every  day  broad-minded  j^eople  are  coming 
to  believe  it.  Therefore,  one  scientific  way  to  deal  with 
intcm])erance  among  the  jioor  is  to  change  industrw 
Raise  wages,  improve  home  and  factory  conditions, 
shorten  hours,  provide  places  where  men  can  buy  cheap 
lunches  without  drinking  a  glass  of  beer,  and  you  will 
rob  the  saloon  of  its  greatest  support.  l\:)day  men  who 
would  be  skilled  workers  cannot  be  even  moderate  drink- 
ers. An  engineer  finmd  with  a  bottle  in  his  engine  cab 
would  at  once  be  discharged.  Extend  this  policy  to  the 
unskilled  worker :  convince  him  also  that  the  saloon  bar 
is  a  barrier  in  the  way  of  his  efticiency  and  success,  and 
the  mighty  liquor  trafhc  will  totter  to  its  final  fall. 

The  saloon-keeper  knows  not  only  where  to  find  pat- 
rons but  how  to  entice  them,  ^'ears  ago  he  learned  some- 
thing that  educators  and  reformers  are  just  beginning  to 
learn  :  we  must  win  people  through  their  pleasures.     Ac- 


AN   OPEN    FIGHT  43 

cordingly  the  saloon-keeper  furnishes  music,  bright  Hghts, 
vaudeville — excitement  that  the  weary  worker  in  monoto- 
nous toil  craves  in  every  fiber  of  his  being.  Melodrama, 
cheap  enough  for  even  him,  appeals  to  all  his  instincts : 
anger,  fear,  curiosity,  love.  Before  him  in  a  moving 
panorama  his  own  emotions  are  depicted  in  the  lives  of 
others.  Oh,  the  exhilaration  and  zest  in  living  that  comes 
to  a  brain-befogged  toiler  when  he  glimpses  a  life,  ad- 
venturous, exciting,  full  of  gratified  longings  !  What  does 
he  know  of  the  results  of  such  gratification?  What  does 
he  care  for  tomorrow,  for  eternity,  when  today  holds  no 
opportunity  for  expression?  How  easy  for  him  to  fall 
into  that  line  of  good  fellowship  crowding  to  a  marble 
bar  near  the  theater's  exit,  to  call  madly  for  drink,  to 
drain  the  subtle  glass  whose  sham  glare  mocks  the  very 
light  of  day,  to  lose  all  self-control,  and  spend  the  night 
in  sin  and  shame,  in  a  vain  quest  for  Life ! 

If  you  would  discover  how  little  is  now  being  done  to 
counteract  these  influences,  go  into  a  small  city  some  dark 
night.  In  the  bright  spots  you  will  find  theaters,  dance- 
halls,  saloons.  Some  distance  away,  secure  from  the  con- 
tamination of  these  evils,  wrapped  about  by  kindly  shad- 
ows, are  the  school-house,  the  library,  and  the  churches ! 
Shame  upon  us  if  we  admit  that  we  cannot  compete  with 
the  saloon !  Why  not  open  these  buildings,  make  them 
social  centers,  where  families  may  enjoy  wholesome,  edu- 
cating entertainment  for  the  same  small  sum  that  they 
now  pay  for  corrupting  melodrama  ? 

If  the  churches  would  rally  their  enormous  member- 
ship they  could  carry  any  municipal  movement  to  over- 
whelming success.  They  could  provide  pleasures  that 
not  only  arouse  emotions  but  turn  them  to  right  ways  of 
expression,  and  thus  strike  a  direct  and  fatal  blow  at  the 
saloon.  The  leader  of  a  reform  once  said :  "  I  would 
rather  have  one  saloon  behind  me  in  the  coming  election 
than  all  the  churches  in  town."  Marvel  not  at  the  impu- 
dence of  his  statement ;  marvel  rather  at  the  truth  of  it. 
He  challenges  the  Christian  church  to  make  it  a  lie !  The 
saloon  would  empty  the  churches  if  it  could ;  the  churches 
could  empty  the  saloon  if  they  would !  They  could  de- 
feat the  saloon-keepers  at  their  own  game — the  game  of 


44  WINNING   ORATIONS 

catching  men.  If  we  do  not  believe  that,  we  make  Hght 
of  the  power  of  the  Christian  church.  Before  admitting 
that  we  cannot  compete  with  the  saloon,  why  not  try 
competition  ?  When  the  church  fully  awakes  it  will  rea- 
lize that  "  today's  pleasures  must  be  stronger  than  its 
temptations;"  that  healthful  amusement  is  stronger  than 
intemperance  and  can  stifle  the  lust  for  it! 

Education,  besides  giving  girls  a  knowledge  of  Greek 
and  Latin,  should  teach  them  how  to  keep  their  bodies 
strong,  how  to  care  for  children,  how  to  provide  nourish- 
ing food  at  no  greater  cost  than  that  of  the  present 
wretched  food  of  many  laborers.  Education  must  make 
boys  real  athletes,  teach  them  how  to  earn  a  living,  and 
form  in  them  work-habits  and  play-habits  that  defy  in- 
temperance. Parks,  reading-rooms,  gymnasiums — any- 
thing that  will  make  strong  bodies  and  ha])py  hearts — will 
fight  a  winning  battle  with  the  saloon.  lUit  until  the  church 
awakes  to  the  marvelous  o]^i)ortunit\  of  making  its  direct- 
ing influence  mean  something  in  our  ])lay-day  and  worka- 
day world;  until  the  school  teaches  boys  and  girls  how  to 
earn  a  living  and  keep  strong  and  clean ;  until  society 
fairly  rewards  their  efficiency ;  until  the  mother  in  the 
home  knows  more  about  the  longings  of  her  boy  than 
does  the  man  behind  the  bar  ;  until  then  we  shall  have  the 
saloon,  or  its  counterpart! 

If  we  adopt  this  constructive  policy  and  o])enl\-  com- 
pete with  the  licjuor  traffic  the  saloon  will  not  only  be 
voted  out  but  completely  wiped  out.  And  this  is  no  idle 
dream  of  a  mere  college  girl.  It  is  the  carefully  worked 
out  conclusion  of  the  best  authorities  on  social  problems 
in  our  land  today.  They  are  agreed  that  we  must  have 
constructive  as  well  as  repressive  measures.  What  are 
you  going  to  do  about  it,  young  peojile?  Are  you  willing 
to  dedicate  your  talent,  your  education,  your  life  to  the 
outwitting  and  uprooting  of  the  American  saloon?  If 
so,  here  is  a  constructive  program  that  every  one  of  you, 
franchised  and  unfranchised,  can  help  to  carry  out.  in 
doing  your  part  you  will  hasten  legal  prohibition  and 
make  its  advent  effective.  Your  material  is  human 
nature,  just  as  it  is.  The  saloon  is  making  use  of  right 
and   necessary   instincts   for  the   downpuU   of   men   and 


AN  OPEN   FIGHT  45 

women.  You,  with  your  enthusiasm,  your  careful  study, 
your  Christianity,  can  take  this  same  love  of  pleasure 
and  excitement,  this  same  hunger  for  beauty,  these  same 
normal  appetites  of  mind  and  body,  and  utilize  them  for 
man's  uplift.  Accept  the  challenge  of  the  saloon !  Fight 
and  defeat  it  on  its  own  ground  in  open  warfare,  and 
you  can  sheathe  your  swords,  assured  of  complete  vic- 
tory. The  door  of  the  last  American  saloon  will  close 
with  a  slam  of  finality,  and  the  conquered  liquor  traffic 
will  remain  captive  forever. 


Charles  G.  Gomon 

Representatives  of  Nebraska  W'eslevan  University  have 
twice  been  strong  contenders  in  the  national  contests  of 
the  Intercollegiate  Prohibition  Association.  The  higii 
calibre  of  the  I.  P.  A.  contests  is  fully  recognized  at  the 
Nebraska  institution,  and  no  effort  is  spared  to  stimulate 
keen   competition   and   develop  a  national   winner. 

Charles  G.  Gomon,  representing  the  "survival  of  the 
fittest,"  was  chosen  as  the  entrant  in  the  1914  National 
held  at  Topeka  in  December,  and  he  fully  sustained  the 
reputation  of  his  Alma  Mater  for  developing  successful 
public  speakers.  luUering  the  I.  P.  A.  oratorical  series 
in  1912  Gomon  won  the  local  contest  and  took  second 
place  in  the  state  event.  In  his  senior  year  he  again 
entered,  and  this  time  succeeded  in  winning  the  Central 
Interstate  held  at  \\  infield.  Kan.,  in   H)!^. 

Mr.  C^iomon  graduated  from  Nebraska  W'eslexan  in 
1913.  and  the  following  \ear  earned  the  degree  of  .\.M. 
at  the  University  of  Nebraska,  where  he  made  a  special 
study  of  the  li(|Uor  problem.  As  a  ])art  of  his  graduate 
course  he  wrote  an  extended  thesis,  taking  as  his  subject, 
"The  Saloon:  .\  Study  in  Social  Causation. "-  lie  also 
took  theological  work  at  Garrett  Ihblical  Institute,  in 
Evanston.  111. 

While  at  \\'esle\an  (iomon  was  especially  active  along 
literary  lines.  In  his  sojihomore  year,  and  again  in  his 
senior  year,  he  was  a  member  of  the  \'arsity  debate  team 
which  won  the  college  debating  chami)ionship.  He  was 
class  orator  for  one  year,  I'niversity  r»an(|uet  orator  for 
two  years,  member  of  the  Dialectic  Literary  Society  and 
president  of  the  X'incent  (ministerial)  Association,  and 
took  the  leading  part  in  the  senior  class  play. 

P)esides  being  active  in  the  \.  W  \.  Mr.  ("lomon  has 
been  engaged  in  the  w(^rk  of  tiic  \nti-Saloon  League, 
being  for  a  time  Sujierintendent  of  the  Lincoln  District. 

46 


CHARLES  G.  GOMON, 
Central  Orator  for  1913  in  the  National  of  1914. 


CHARLES    G.    COMON  49 

For  four  years  he  was  i)astor  of  the  Epworth  Methodist 
church  in  Lincohi.  As  a  result  of  early  training  he  has 
always  been  strongly  opposed  to  the  saloon,  and  in  his 
future  career  he  proposes  to  do  all  in  his  power,  as  a 
pastor  and  on  the  lecture  platform,  to  oppose  the  liquor 
traffic  and  aid  in  its  annihilation. 


The  Second  Emancipation 

By  Charles  G.  Go>ion, 
Nebraska  Wesleyan  University,  '13. 

Orator  in  National  Contest  of  19 14. 
Winner  Central  Interstate,  1913. 

I. 

The  stain  of  slavers  is  indelible.  Time  will  heal  the 
wounds  made  b\'  the  shackles  of  steel  and  mutual  inter- 
est bridge  the  gulf  between  a  divided  peo])le,  l)ut  the  blood 
spilled  by  defenseless  slaves  cries  out  against  this  nation. 

h>eedom  was  purchased  when  our  soldiers  passed 
through  the  Cjethsemane  of  sacrifice.  Today  on  myriad 
battlefields  glittering  shafts  have  been  erected  in  sacred 
memory  to  our  fallen  heroes.  The  challenge  was  issued: 
forth  they  came  from  factory  and  from  field,  from  moun- 
tain, mill  and  marts  of  trade,  from  humble  walks  of  life 
and  those  of  highest  honor,  and  forth  they  went  to  pay, 
with  their  own  blood,  tiie  jirice  of  emancipation. 

Their  work  completed  the  'iunancipator"  turned  the 
searchlight  of  his  great  soul  upon  the  succeeding  genera- 
tion, uttering  no  idle  ])rophecy  when  he  said,  "After  re- 
construction, the  ne.xl  great  (lueslion  will  be  the  overthrow 
of  the  lii|uor  traffic." 

II. 

We  grant  that  slavery  was  a  great  crime.  It  bowed 
the  heads  and  chilled  the  hearts  of  men,  degrading  them 
to  the  level  of  the  brute,  but  now  confronting  us  is  a  foe 
still  more  insidious,  a  crime  far  more  atrocious — the 
organized  licjuor  traffic.  Feasting  ui)on  the  spoils  of  its 
foes,  it  laughs  and  makes  merry  at  the  torture  of  its 
victims,  holding  high  carnival  over  the  bodies  of  the 
slain. 

50 


THE    SECOND    EMANCIPATION  51 

The  task  of  overthrowing  this  mighty  Rum  power  and 
of  dethroning  this  modern  Bacchus  is  far  from  easy. 
First,  the  individual  drinker  is  bound  by  fetters  of  habit 
and  chained  by  false  delusions.  The  high  sounding 
phrase  of  "personal  liberty"  has  been  employed  to  lead 
him  into  believing  that  he  has  a  right  to  debauch  him- 
self, ruin  his  home  and  drive  his  wife  and  children  to 
starvation.  He  is  wrenched  as  a  useful  man  from  society, 
but  is  cast  back  a  leper  for  which  the  state  must  provide, 
not  with  the  revenue  it  receives  as  a  price  paid  in  license 
money  for  the  right  to  make  drunkards,  but  by  a  tax- 
levied  on  innocent  people  to  pay  for  the  crimes  of  the 

guilty.  .... 

This  conception  of  "liberty  is  mmiical  to  the  very 
purposes  of  our  American  freedom.  It  is  opposed  to  the 
basic  principle  of  our  American  civilization.  Liberty,  in 
this  domain,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  is  a  privilege  safe- 
guarded by  law. 

The  fabric  of  our  body  politic  is  a  composite  of  indi- 
vidual interests,  the  acts  of  the  individual  affecting  in 
some  degree  the  whole  fabric.  Therefore  the  eff'ects  of 
intemperance  cannot  be  confined  simply  to  those  who 
practice  it.  Investigation  discloses  the  fact  that  from  the 
class  of  persons  addicted  to  the  use  of  alcohol  comes  the 
greatest  number  unciualified  for  life's  responsibility.  Out 
of  every  hundred  born  of  inebriates  only  seventeen  are 
physically  and  mentally  endowed  for  service.  By  this 
record  it  is  apparent  that  the  first  law  of  nature,  self- 
preservation,  is  being  seriously  violated.  This  nation 
cannot  tolerate  a  race  of  degenerates,  but  unless  the  tide 
of  infamy  is  checked  America  will  be  submerged  with 
crime,  pauperism  and  imbecility. 

III. 

Again,  our  attention  is  called  to  the  havoc  wrought 
in  politics  by  the  taskmaster  of  the  franchise.  In  many 
of  our  great  cities  the  ravages  upon  character  have  been 
so  emphatic  and  degeneracy  so  multiplied  that  the  bal- 
ance of  power  no  longer  rests  upon  the  guaf^dians  of 
purity  and  righteousness  but  upon  those  who  bow  at  the 


52  WINNING    ORATIONS 

shrine  of  the  god  of  Rum.  offering  their  pride,  their  man- 
hood and  their  souls  a  Hving  sacrifice.  This  fact  be- 
comes more  stupendous  when  we  reahze  that  one  of  the 
greatest  poHtical  problems  of  today  is  the  problem  of  our 
great  cities.  (Jut  of  such  environment  have  come  many 
of  our  law-makers  to  enter  our  legislative  halls,  both 
state  and  national.  Thus  our  laws  have  been  polluted 
and  the  names  of  our  legislators  written,  not  in  the  "Hall 
of  Fame,"  but  in  the  "Hall  of  Shame."  Ex-Governor 
St.  John  has  said,  "H  our  children  were  made  of  i)ig- 
iron  the  politicians  would  favor  their  protection." 

The  Hag  of  freedom  is  supposed  to  protect  that  which 
is  legal  in  our  land,  but  license  puts  the  Stars  and  Strii)es 
between  us  and  the  open  saloon.  In  our  attempt  to  rid 
ourselves  of  this  great  curse  we  find  our  battle  is  not 
so  much  with  the  saloon  as  it  is  against  the  flag.  "The 
Stars  and  Stripes  is  an  ei")itome  of  the  soul-stirring  history 
of  these  L'nited  States.  It  is  the  ensign  of  liberty  and 
human  i)rogres3.  Its  folds  have  been  baptized  with  the 
smoke  and  tears  and  blood  of  the  greatest  of  civil  wars. 
The  noble  legion,  the  (^rand  Army  of  the  Republic,  is  a 
living  reminder  of  at  what  an  awful  cost  was  our  glorious 
flag  i)rcservcd,  as  the  champion  of  the  rights  of  men — 
even  black  men  and  slaves:  but.  to  think  of  that  flag  set 
as  the  defender  of  the  blackest  infamy  of  the  age — the 
American  saloon !" 

In  memory  I  see  a  framed  licjuor  license  in  a  saloon 
window,  decorated  with  our  national  colors  and  sur- 
mounted by  our  American  eagle.  What  a  humiliation  to 
the  eagle  and  what  an  insult  to  the  flag.  lUit  by  law  we 
l)laced  them  both  there.  With  Dr.  Piatt  I  agree,  that  "to 
lower  'Old  (ilory'  not  half-mast,  but  to  the  mouth  of  the 
smoking  pit.  there  to  enforce  a  reciprocity  treaty  with 
perdition,  is  to  treat  sacrifice  with  sarcasm  and  the  sacred 
with  sacrilege." 

Time  will  not  permit  the  enumeration  of  all  the  means 
by  which  the  li(|Uor  traffic  works,  for  there  is  no  j)lan 
that  it  has  not  devised,  no  influence  tliat  it  has  not  used 
to  bring  unto  itself  the  power  it  so  much  covets. 


THE    SECOND    EMAXCIPATION  53 

Pretending  to  advance  agricultural  and  commercial 
interests  a  Brewers'  World  Congress  was  held  in  Chi- 
cago. The  real  puri)ose  was  to  extend  the  sale  of  beer 
in  China,  Korea  and  Japan  by  securing  the  sanction  of 
Ignited  States  government  officials. 

Avowing  its  cham]:)ionship  of  economic  and  industrial 
progress,  the  liquor  traffic  has  projected  its  agencies  into 
every  city,  village  and  hamlet  in  our  land.  Seizing  upon 
sociability,  a  fundamental  social  instinct,  the  liquor  traf- 
fic has  perverted  the  true  purpose  of  economics  by  "mak- 
ing money  out  of  the  vices  and  excesses  of  other  people." 
Boasting  of  its  friendly  attitude  toward  the  laboring  man 
it  has  placed  a  stigma  upon  his  morals  and  its  stamp  of 
inefficiency  upon  his  daily  toil.  In  fact,  everywhere  may 
be  seen  its  blighting  influence,  despoiling  social  freedom, 
rendering  less  possible  the  chance  of  economic  gain  and 
corrupting  politics  so  that  good  laws  cannot  be  secured 
nor  bad  ones  eliminated. 

V. 

The  problem  of  emancipation  is  again  before  us.  Are 
we  as  intelligent  American  citizens  willing  to  perpetuate 
so  great  a  crime  among  us  through  a  method  of  license 
and  regulation?  Honest,  commendable  efforts  have  been 
made  by  local  communities  to  relieve  themselves  of  this 
cruel  yoke  by  means  of  regulation.  Great  temperance 
organizations  have  hurled  themselves  into  the  thickest 
of  the  fray,  and  they  have  done  nobly  in  creating  public 
sentiment  and  awakening  civic  conscience.  Fourteen 
states  have  divorced  themselves  from  the  liquor  traffic  by 
statutory  law  or  constitutional  amendment. 

The  greatest  achievement  for  temperance  in  this 
century,  however,  was  the  enactment  of  a  law  by  our 
national  Congress  which  has  as  its  purpose  the  inter- 
ference, on  the  part  of  the  federal  government,  with  the 
inter-state  shipment  of  liquor  into  dry  territory,  to  be 
used  contrary  to  local  law.  This  is  a  step  in  the  right 
direction.  A  national  problem  cannot  be  settled  by  any- 
thing less  than  national  consideration.  The  abolition  of 
the  liquor  traffic  must  be  by  the  national  government. 


54  WINNING   ORATIONS 

An  amendment  to  the  constitution  prohibiting  the  man- 
ufacture, sale,  importation,  exportation  and  transporta- 
tion of  intoxicating  Hquor  for  beverage  purposes  within 
the  territory  of  the  L'nited  States  is  the  only  ultimate  so- 
lution of  this  great  question. 

The  demand  of  this  generation  is  i)rohibition.  ^len  of 
all  political  parties,  who  prize  principle  more  than  power, 
are  demanding  it ;  men  who  possess  >a  vision  of  statesman- 
ship are  demanding  it ;  men  who  cherish  right  and  despise 
wrong  are  demanding  it ;  and  there  is  now  gathering  a 
mighty  host  that  shall  sweep  up  to  the  summit  of  victory. 

The  need  is  for  strong  men,  well  ecjuippcd,  v.dio  will 
enlist  to  fight  until  the  foe  is  van(|uished. 

The  call  comes  as  one  mighty  voice  from  the  down- 
trodden and  the  oppressed,  and  they  are  listening  for  a 
reply.  Listening  they  hear  the  sound  of  the  marching 
of  a  mighty  host  and  from  shore  to  shore  the  sound  of 
many  voices  echoing  and  re-echoing  as  with  determination 
the  liberators  advance,  shouting.  We  come !   for 

"We  as  Christians  must  bear 

Our  part  in  this  hght ;  we  must  do  and  nnist  dare 
To  the  utmost  of  strength,  that  the  foul  curse  of  rum 
That  hath  blotted  the  past  with  the  blank  of  despair. 
Shall  be  cleansed  from  the  skirt  of  the  century  to  come. 
While   this   star-crowned    nation   the   palm-branch    shall 

wear. 
And  the  rum- fettered  slave  bask  in  liberty's  air — 
We  will  do,  we  will  dare!" 


SAMITKL  W.  GRATHWELL. 
Western  Orator  for  1914  in  tlie  National  of  1914. 


Samuel  W.  Grathwell 

From  the  slums  of  a  big  city  to  a  distinguished  place 
on  the  public  platform  is  a  story  of  such  rare  occurrence 
as  to  be  noteworthy.  Yet  this,  in  a  word,  is  the  story 
of  Samuel  W.  Grathwell,  winner  of  the  1914  Western 
Interstate  Contest  and  Pacific  Coast  orator  in  the  Na- 
tional of    1914. 

Grathwell  was  born  in  the  slums  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
in  1887.  When  he  was  but  seven  years  old  his  father 
died,  a  victim  of  strong  drink,  and  the  mother  was  forced 
to  take  in  washing  to  support  herself  and  three  children. 
The  children  attended  school  in  the  heart  of  the  slum 
district,  and  took  their  meals  each  day  at  the  children's 
home.  At  the  age  of  thirteen  young  Samuel  left  school 
and  sold  newspapers,  blacked  boots  and  worked  as  a 
messenger  boy  in  order  to  assist  in  the  support  of  the 
family. 

When  about  nineteen  he  decided  to  attend  night  school, 
and  it  was  here  that  his  education  really  began.  His 
industry,  sincerity  and  marked  ability  in  public  speaking 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  superintendent,  who  became 
interested  in  him  and  later  sent  him  to  Berea  College, 
Kentucky.  Here  Mr.  Grathwell  spent  four  years,  earning' 
part  of  his  expenses  and  engaging  successfully  in  inter- 
collegiate debate  and  oratorical  work. 

In  191 1  he  went  to  Oregon,  and  the  following  year 
entered  Pacific  University  at  Forest  Grove,  where  he 
continued  to  win  oratorical  honors.  In  1913,  and  again 
in  19 1 4,  he  won  the  local  and  state  contests  of  the 
I.  P.  A.,  and  the  second  year  he  succeeded  in  capturing 
the  Western  Interstate  held  at  Los  Angeles.  He  also 
represented  Pacific  twice  in  debate  and  won  first  place 
in  the  "old  line"  state  oratorical  contest. 

An  incident  in  connection  with  the  ''old  line"  contest 
is  a  source  of  keen  satisfaction  to  Mr,  Grathwell.     A 

57 


58  WINNING   ORATIONS 

third  of  his  oration  was  devoted  to  a  discussion  of  the 
liquor  problem.  Fearing  that  the  judges  would  not  favor 
an  airing  of  this  subject  his  friends  strongly  urged  that 
he  should  not  jeopardize  his  chances  of  winning  by 
speaking  of  the  liquor  traffic.  Grathwell,  however,  in- 
sisted that  he  was  speaking  for  a  principle  and  refused 
to  expunge  this  part  of  his  oration.  His  victory  served 
to  turn  the  tide  and  the  contest  the  following  year  had 
two  orations  on  the  liquor  traffic. 

In  his  junior  year  at  Pacific  Mr.  Grathwell  was  vice- 
president  of  Gamma  Sigma,  the  oldest  literary  society 
of  the  Northwest,  member  of  the  Debate  Council  and 
president  of  the  I.  P.  A.  He  was  twice  chosen  a  member 
of  the  intercollegiate  debate  team. 

For  three  years,  beginning  in  1912,  Mr.  Grathwell  was 
engaged  in  field  work  for  the  Prohibition  Party  in  Ore- 
gon, in  which  he  achieved  eminent  success  as  a  brilliant 
orator  and  live  leader  and  organizer.  In  the  campaign 
of  1914  he  was  the  candidate  of  the  Prohibition  Party 
for  Representative  in  the  State  Legislature  and  had  no 
small  part  in  the  state-wide  camj)aign  which  made  Ore- 
gon dry. 

Mr.  Grath well's  early  life  has  been  a  courageous  battle 
for  right  and  success.  The  difficulties  he  has  overcome 
have  been  tremendous,  but  he  has  come  out  victorious. 
He  attributes  much  of  his  success  to  the  timely  help  of 
his  many  friends.  Fre(|uently  he  has  become  discouraged 
and  would  have  given  up  had  he  not  at  the  crucial 
moment  received  a  word  from  some  friend  which  inspired 
him  to  further  efi'ort. 

Of  the  value  to  him  of  prohibition  work  Mr.  Grathwell 
says:  *Mt  has  made  my  college  course  more  real  to  me. 
Since  taking  up  this  work  I  have  studied  with  a  new- 
purpose,  bormerly  I  cared  nothing  for  economics.  XcfW 
I  know  that  if  I  am  to  really  understand  this  movement 
I  nuist  know  something  of  economics.  It  has  hel])ed  me 
to  meet  men  and  women.  It  has  taught  me  to  more 
readily  adapt  myself.  It  has  given  me  a  newer  and 
deeper  appreciation  of  human  values.  If  I  were  asked 
right  now  what  I  want  to  make  my  life  work  I  would 
unhesitatingly  say:     the  overthrow  of  the  liquor  traffic." 


Liquor  vs.  Capital  and  Labor 

By  Samuel  W.  Grathwell. 
Pacific  University,  'i6. 

Orator  in  National  Contest,  1914. 
Winner  of  Western  Interstate,  1914. 

For  more  than  a  century  America  has  waged  the  con- 
flict against  strong  drink.  Beginning  with  a  plea  for 
moderation  and  progressing  to  an  appeal  for  total  absti- 
nence, the  movement  has  culminated  in  a  demand  for 
prohibition.  In  these  crusades  the  liquor  forces  have  lost 
stronghold  after  stronghold.  The  world's  ablest  physi- 
cians reject  alcohol  as  a  medicine;  our  highest  court  de- 
clares that  to  sell  intoxicants  "  is  not  the  privilege  of  a 
citizen ;"  and  by  every  righteous  standard  the  traffic  in 
alcohol  stands  condemned  as  immoral.  Baffled  by  the 
decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court,  beaten  back  by  the  steady 
advance  of  the  forces  of  science  and  morality,  the  liquor 
interests  now  pose  as  the  champions  of  "personal  lib- 
erty ;"  assert  that  "  prohibition  does  not  prohibit ;"  and 
especially  claim  their  business  to  be  an  "  economic  neces- 
sity." From  this  economic  refuge  the  liquor  forces  must 
be  driven.  W'ith  this  victory  achieved  the  sophistry  of 
"  personal  liberty "  and  the  assertion  that  "  prohibition 
does  not  prohibit"  will  no  longer  effectively  appeal  to 
public  opinion. 

The  economic  factor,  as  history  shows,  determines  the 
course  of  most  human  movements.  The  fear  that  our 
commerce  would  be  demoralized,  says  President  Wilson, 
forced  our  loose  league  of  rival  states  to  form  the  consti- 
tution and  to  become  a  united  nation.  During  the  slav- 
ery crisis,  to  stem  the  tide  of  feeling  in  England  which 
favored  the  Southern  Confederacy,  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
that  great  moralist,  discussed  at  Manchester,  Glasgow  and 

59 


60  WINNING   ORATIONS 

Liverpool  the  ultimate  economic  benefits  their  laboring 
masses  and  business  interests  would  derive  from  the  over- 
throw of  slavery.  As  in  those  crises,  so  in  the  movement 
against  the  liquor  traffic,  of  prime  importance  is  the  efifect 
upon  Capital  and  Labor. 

Some  are  unwilling  to  emphasize  the  economic  aspect. 
They  refer  to  the  moral  ravages  of  the  traffic  as  its 
"greatest  indictment,"  and  therefore  insist  that  the  battle 
should  be  waged  on  the  high  plane  of  moral  idealism. 
But  is  not  the  economic  phase  also  intensely  moral  ?  The 
highest  moral  development  for  millions  of  people,  while 
living  under  the  financial  burden  of  the  liquor  traffic,  is  im- 
possible. However,  it  is  not  a  question  of  the  "  greatest 
indictment ;"  what  we  must  consider  mainly  is  the  best 
plan  of  attack.  ^Multitudes  will  never  care  about  that 
higher  question.  "Is  prohibition  right?"  until  convinced 
that  the  liquor  traffic  does  not  pay. 

This  fact  is  evidently  fully  recognized  by  the  liquor 
forces.  The  economic  argument  was  their  chief  weapon 
in  every  recent  state-wide  prohibition  campaign.  Their 
position  is  well  stated  by  their  prominent  champion,  ex- 
Mayor  Rose  of  Milwaukee,  who  says:  "I  am  not  here 
to  discuss  this  question  as  a  matter  of  sentiment.  Think- 
ing men  realize  that,  lying  beneath  the  froth  of  sentiment 
is  the  solid  substance  of  material  fact,  and  I  am  here  to 
discuss  this  proposition  as  a  sound  economic  question." 
From  the  attitude  of  the  licjuor  men  themselves  and  from 
the  history  of  great  movements  we  ought  to  learn  the 
value  of  marshaling  our  forces  to  attack  the  traffic's  eco- 
nomic defense. 

When  the  liquor  interests  appeal  to  tlie  business  men 
they  boldly  assert  that  prohibition  depresses  commercial 
conditions.  Facts,  however,  do  not  sustain  this  claim. 
1  he  prosperity  of  legitimate  business  depends  upon  con- 
sumers, and  whatever  crijiples  their  purchasing  power 
reacts  against  business.  Once  1  interviewed  an  old  (Ger- 
man storekcejicr  concerning  ])r(Miibition.  *'  Mister  Teni- 
l)erance  Man,"  said  he.  "1  used  to  want  saloons,  but  if 
you  can  get  rid  of  them  here.  I'll  give  you  $50.00.  Do  you 
see  this  street  carnival  here^  The  Commercial  Club  said 
it  would  help  business  and  they  asked  for  money.     I  and 


LIQUOR   VS.    CAPITAL   AND   LABOR  61 

Other  business  men  gave  it.  Where  are  all  the  men?  In 
my  store?  No.  In  the  stores  of  other  merchants?  No. 
The  men  are  all  in  the  saloon.  The  saloon  gets  the  busi- 
ness and  we  don't."  Here  is  the  very  heart  of  the  ques- 
tion. Wherever  the  saloon  exists  men  waste  their  money 
for  intoxicants  instead  of  spending  it  for  food,  clothing 
and  shelter. 

What  would  our  annual  drink  bill  mean  to  business  if 
invested  in  the  necessaries  of  life?  In  1913,  over  $2,400,- 
000,000  was  spent  for  intoxicating  beverages — an  amount 
greater  than  the  gross  incomes  of  the  railroads,  and  over 
twice  the  national  revenue.  Had  this  enormous  amount 
been  spent  on  600,000  families  of  five  each,  allowing  to 
each  family  $3,500  for  the  purchase  of  a  home,  house- 
hold furnishings,  a  piano,  food  and  clothing  for  a  year, 
even  then  the  full  amount  of  our  yearly  drink  bill  would 
not  have  been  expended.  There  would  still  be  left  a  bank 
account  of  over  $400  for  each  family.  Consider  that  these 
600,000  families  outnumber  those  living  in  the  great  city 
of  Chicago,  and  you  will  more  fully  realize  the  magni- 
tude of  the  drink  bill  and  its  crippling  effect  upon  all 
other  business. 

But  no  longer  need  we  rely  upon  speculation  alone. 
When  the  liquor  forces  asserted,  during  the  prohibition 
struggle  in  Salem,  Oregon's  capital,  that  prohibition  im- 
paired business  in  the  neighboring  city  of  Albany,  many 
of  Albany's  leading  merchants  went  to  Salem  and  pub- 
licly declared  that,  far  from  being  a  detriment,  prohibi- 
tion was  their  best  economic  asset.  And  with  Salem  dry, 
some  of  the  very  business  men  who  had  been  the  champ- 
ions of  the  liquor  interests  became  staunch  advocates  of 
prohibition.  From  Kansas,  Maine,  Georgia,  and  other 
dry  territory  comes  the  same  report.  Abolish  the  saloon 
and  legitimate  business  prospers.  Let  it  remain  and  the 
wage-earner  has  less  for  baker,  grocer  and  clothier.  He 
buys  a  smaller  quantity  and  a  cheaper  quality.  The  traffic 
stands  today  as  the  greatest  menace  to  legitimate  busi- 
ness. 

The  organized  traffic  further  claims  to  be  labor's  friend. 
If  a  friend  it  will  not  injure  the. laborer's  welfare.  On 
this  basis  the  declaration  must  stand  or  fall. 


6'2  WINNING    OR.\TIOXS 

Carroll  D.  Wright,  formerly  United  States  Commis- 
sioner of  Labor,  estimated  that  the  same  amount  of  fixed 
capital  needed  to  employ  one  man  in  the  liquor  business, 
if  invested  in  legitimate  industry,  would  employ  eight 
or  nine  men.  Abolish  the  saloon  and  factories  and  stores 
will  rise  on  its  ruins.  Industry,  thus  (|uickened  and  un- 
hindered, will  call  the  unemployed  ;  while  those  formerly 
working  for  the  traffic  will  change  from  unproductive  to 
productive  labor.  No  longer  then  will  sucli  numerous 
processions  of  idle  men  march  the  streets  with  banners 
bearing  the  words.  "Our  children  cry  for  bread."  The 
problem  of  the  unemployed  will  be  largely  a  problem  of 
shiftless  drones. 

The  traffic  not  only  stands  between  the  toiler  and  a 
larger  market  for  his  labor,  but  daily  increases  the  burden 
under  whicli  he  is  struggling.  The  new  order  of  industry, 
demanding  the  highest  order  of  efficiency  from  its  em- 
ployes and  realizing  that  alcohol  cripples  the  productive 
power  of  labor,  discriminates  against  the  man  who  drinks. 
Neither  moral  nor  sentimental  reasons  force  this  dis- 
crimination ;  it  s]:)rings  from  economic  necessity.  l^)ecause 
inefficient  workmen  lessen  profits,  Marshall  h'^ield  &  Co. 
prohibit  the  use  of  intoxicants  by  their  thousands  of  em- 
ployes, and  even  forl)id  their  frequenting  places  where 
liquor  is  sold.  To  jiromote  public  safety  the  states  of 
Vermont  and  Michigan  forbid  the  emi)loyment  by  com- 
mon carriers  of  any  who  use  intoxicating  drinks.  To 
improve  their  service,  the  rittsl)urgh  cS:  Lake  Lrie  Rail- 
road, last  January,  discharged  I2f)  men  for  drinking. 
Thruout  the  world  of  industry,  wherever  such  regula- 
tion are  made,  they  arc  but  a  form  of  insurance  against 
economic  loss. 

But  does  the  traffic  injure  merely  the  intemperate  em- 
ploye? Can  the  total  abstainer  in  the  ranks  of  labor 
say,  "The  traffic  does  not  hurt  me?"  Does  it  not,  instead, 
crucify  the  innocent  witli  the  guilty?  Many  firms  have 
experiences  similar  to  that  of  I'orter  I'rothers,  the  great 
railroad  contractors,  who  declare  that  frequently  on  Mon- 
day morning  they  cannot  l)egin  work  because  so  many 
of  their  men — their  reason  dethroned  and  their  bodies 
paralyzed  by  strong  drink — fail  to  report.    Thus  the  total 


LIQUOR   VS.    CAPITAL   AND   LABOR  63 

abstainer,  the  ready  for  duty,  loses  part  of  his  wages.  As 
long,  therefore,  as  the  traffic  remains  the  welfare  of  all 
labor  is  impaired.  The  total  abstainer,  thru  no  fault 
of  his  own.  is  often  out  of  employment,  while  the  drink- 
ing workman,  under  our  rising  standards  of  industrial 
efficiency,  becomes  an  outcast  in  the  world  of  labor  or  is 
driven  to  a  lower  scale  of  employment  and  reward. 

Liquor  the  friend  of  Capital  and  Labor  ?  Rather  their 
most  deadly  foe  !  Their  welfare  demands  the  destruction 
of  this  great  economic  scourge.  And  the  power  to  make 
this  victory  possible  lies  with  us,  the  sovereign  people. 
In  the  name  of  business,  hindered  in  its  progress  ;  in  the 
name  of  labor,  kept  from  her  full  reward ;  in  the  name 
of  this  nation  itself,  upon  whom  are  turned  the  eyes  of 
the  world,  we  must  go  forward  in  the  conflict  determined 
that  the  liquor  traffic  shall  die ;  determined  that  we  shall 
have  a  better  nation,  a  richer  nation,  a  happier  nation,  a 
nation  free  to  move  forward  to  its  God-appointed  des- 
tiny. 


Aura  C.  Nesmith 

Born  in  the  state  of  Kansas  on  July  4,  1893,  Aura  C. 
Nesmith  boasts  that  he  is  both  a  patriot  and  a  prohibi- 
tionist. His  father  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  pro- 
hibition movement  in  the  Sunflower  State,  and  spent 
time,  money  and  influence  in  the  tight  against  the  liquor 
interests  in  Ellsworth  County.  With  such  early  training 
and  surroundings  prohibition  principles  became  part  of 
the  son's  inheritance,  and  because  of  the  issue  which  it 
presented  no  oratorical  contest  ever  held  for  him  so 
strong  an  appeal  as  that  of  the  Intercollegiate  Prohibition 
Association. 

Mr.  Nesmith  received  his  early  education  in  the  public 
schools  and  later  si)ent  two  years  in  the  academy  and 
four  years  in  the  collegiate  department  of  Kansas  W'es- 
leyan  University,  where  he  was  granted  the  degrees  of 
Bachelor  of  Arts  and   Bachelor  of    Elocution   in  June, 

He  began  his  oratorical  work  while  in  ihc  academy, 
taking  i)art  in  a  \V.  C  T.  L".  i)rize  contest.  Later  he 
represented  his  college  in  an  intercollegiate  debate  and 
also  participated  in  an  inter-society  debate.  1  le  repre- 
sented Kansas  Wesleyan  in  the  State  Prohibition  Ora- 
torical Contest  in  191 3  and  again  in  1014,  winning  the 
last  event  and  thus  (jualifying  for  the  Central  Interstate 
held  at  Clinton.  Mo.,  in  June.  Here  he  scored  another 
triunijih,  winning  brst  place  and  the  honor  of  rei)resont- 
ing  the  central  states  in  the  (Irand  Xational  Contest  at 
Topeka  on  December  2(). 

While  at  Kansas  Wesleyan  Mr.  .Xesmith  took  a  promi- 
nent part  in  various  college  activities.  He  was  president 
of  the  Ionian  Literary  Society,  the  Debate  Council,  the 
Epworth  League  and  the  Prohibition  League,  advertising 
manager  of  the  college  annual,  secretary  of  the  Student 
Council  and  captain  of  the  do.-^pel  Team,     l-'or  nearly  six 

64 


AURA  C.  NESMITH, 
Central  Orator  for  1914  in  the  National  of  1914. 


AURA    C.    NESMITH  •  Q 

years  he  was  an  active  member  of  the  I.  P.  A.,  and 
during  this  time  he  became  so  thoroughly  imbued  with 
the  spirit  of  the  organization  that  he  is  determined  to 
carry  into  his  chosen  Hfe  work,  the  ministry,  the  same 
unquaHfied  opposition  to  the  Hquor  traffic  which  has 
marked  him  as  a  leader  during  his  college  days. 


The  Final  Step 

By  Aura  C.  Nesmith. 
Kansas  Wesleyan  University,  '14. 

Orator  in  National  Contest,  1914. 
Winner  of  Central  Interstate,  1914. 

The  supreme  duty  of  our  nation  is  the  conservation  of 
her  citizenship.  Our  laws  demand  the  protection  of  pas- 
sengers on  land  and  on  sea.  They  compel  owners  to  pro- 
vide sanitary  surroundings  for  their  workmen  and  to 
protect  them  from  needless  injury.  We  protest  against 
child  labor,  and  demand  a  minimum  wage.  And  yet  no 
other  agency  is  wasting  more  resources,  creating  more 
serious  problems,  or  destroying  more  life  than  the  legal- 
ized liquor  traffic.  In  the  name  of  humanity  and  in  be- 
half of  our  free  government  we  must  make  war  against 
this  destroyer.  Our  api)eal  is  not  sentimental.  It  is  based 
upon  a  rational,  determined  conviction  that  there  is  no 
reasonable  defense  for  a  traffic  which  is  the  source  of 
evil  and  economic  waste,  and  is  the  enemy  of  all  good. 
We  plead,  not  for  the  control,  but  for  the  destruction  of 
this  traffic. 

Men  realize  that  ])rohibition  is  a  moral  necessity ;  but 
they  have  failed  to  ai)i)reciate  its  importance  from  an 
economic  standpoint.  The  licjuor  traffic  strikes  at  the 
foundation  of  prosperity,  since  it  not  only  wastes  the 
wealth  itself  but  also  destroys  the  power  of  producing 
wealth.  Railway  companies,  manufacturers,  and  agri- 
culturists discriminate  against  employes  addicted  to  the 
use  of  intoxicants  as  a  beverage.  "Every  industry  should 
produce,"  but  this  industry  takes  grains  and  fruits  which 
might  be  used  for  food,  and  transforms  them  into  a 
poison.     Last  vear  the  li(iuor  industry  in  this  country  de- 

68 


THE    FINAL    STEP  69 

manded  for  this  poisonous  product  two  billion  dollars ; 
another  two  billion  was  required  to  care  for  the  depend- 
ency resulting  from  the  traffic.  Alcohol  lessened  the  eco- 
nomic efficiency  of  twenty-five  million  men,  and  killed, 
directly  or  indirectly,  one  hundred  thousand  of  our  citi- 
zens ;  it  destroyed  sobriety,  thrift,  and  strength  of  pur- 
pose— moral  qualities,  the  economic  value  of  which  can- 
not be  measured. 

Of  still  greater  importance  is  the  effect  of  the  liquor 
traffic  upon  our  social  institutions.  Upon  society  as  a 
whole  this  industry  brings  a  deadly  blight.  Families  are 
driven  into  want  and  squalor.  These  conditions  beget 
moral  degradation  and  ruin.  Manhood  is  destroyed, 
honor  blasted,  afifection  outraged,  home  ties  are  broken, 
and  our  divorce  courts  are  crowded.  In  its  relation  to 
the  family  and  the  home  the  liquor  traffic  has  not  one 
redeeming  feature.  How  long  will  we  continue  to  trifle 
with  petty  reforms  and  leave  untouched  the  monstrous 
liquor  traffic,  which  is  the  chief  source  of  all  social  evils? 

While  the  liquor  problem  has  an  economic  and  a  social 
phase,  it  is  pre-eminently  a  political  problem.  The  liquor 
traffic  is  threatening  the  very  life  and  liberty  of  the  nation 
itself.  Today  the  saloon  controls  the  majority  vote  in 
our  great  cities  and  holds  the  balance  of  power  between 
the  great  political  parties  of  our  country.  What  is  the  at- 
titude of  our  government  toward  this  traffic?  Our 
nation  is  striving  to  bring  peace  on  earth ;  but  behold  a 
destroyer  a  thousand  times  greater  than  war  is  here.  The 
trusts  are  a  subject  for  national  legislation;  but  what  has 
been  said  of  this  trust  which  not  only  deprives  men  of 
their  earnings  but  crushes  out  honor  and  virtue  and  life 
itself  ?  "The  red  flag  of  anarchy  has  never  floated  to 
the  American  breeze  except  from  an  American  saloon." 
And  yet  this  accursed  traffic  goes  on  with  the  consent, 
yea,  with  the  sanction,  yea,  even  with  the  co-operation 
of  our  government.  For  two  hundred  and  fifty  million 
dollars  a  year  our  government  sells  to  the  saloons  the 
privilege  of  exploiting  and  blighting  her  citizenship.  Be- 
holding the  destruction,  the  degradation,  and  the  death, 
every  man  who  loves  justice,  purity,  and  righteousness; 
every  man  who  loves  his  country,  his  fellowman,  and  his 


70  WINNING   ORATIONS 

God,  cries  out  in  protest  against  this  "unspeakable  in- 
iquity." 

This  protest,  however,  must  be  more  than  a  protest  of 
words.  It  can  find  adequate  expression  only  in  effectual 
reform  measures.  The  time  merely  to  discuss  the  liquor 
problem  is  past !  The  time  for  its  solution  has  come ! 
The  only  solution  for  this  problem  is  national  prohibition. 
Prohibition  is  not  a  theory ;  it  is  not  an  experiment.  It 
has  been  tested  in  the  smaller  units  of  government.  Six- 
teen thousand  incorporated  villages,  seventeen  hundred 
counties,  five  hundred  cities  of  more  then  five  thousand, 
and  two  hundred  cities  of  more  than  ten  thousand  popu- 
lation have  outlawed  the  li(iuor  traftic.  Fourteen  states, 
with  an  aggregate  i)opulation  of  almost  twenty  million, 
have  adopted  prohibition.  As  a  result  more  than  forty- 
eight  milhon  of  our  people  are  under  "no  license"  and 
eighty  per  cent  of  the  area  of  our  country  has  no  saloons. 
This  measure  has  had  only  an  unfair  trial ;  and  yet  the 
prohibitory  law  was  never  more  satisfactory  to  the  law 
abiding  citizens  of  this  country  than  it  is  today. 

Conditions  in  tlie  state  and  in  the  nation  are  so  simi- 
lar that  the  only  logical  conclusion  is,  that  prohibition, 
successful  in  the  state,  will  be  more  successful  in  the 
nation.  At  ]:)resent  the  federal  government  prohibits  the 
sale  of  intoxicating  liquor  to  Indians.  StringeiU  prohi- 
bition measures  are  enforced  in  Alaska.  The  canteen 
has  been  excluded  from  our  army  and  navy.  A  federal 
statute  now  prohibits  the  shipment  in  interstate  commerce 
of  intoxicating  licjuors  to  be  used  contrary  to  law.  Tlie 
passage  of  the  Webb  law  is  the  greatest  legislative  vic- 
tory the  temperance  forces  have  ever  secured.  The 
awakened  public  sentiment  of  our  nation  triumphed  in 
the  halls  of  Congress,  and.  in  spite  of  the  united  o])po- 
sition  of  all  the  liquor  forces,  the  bill  was  passed  in  both 
houses  of  Congress  by  more  than  two-thirds  majority. 
Thus  the  mighty  forces  of  jirohibition  have  swept  onward 
from  victory  unto  victory. 

h>om  former  battles  we  lia\e  gained  new  strength. 
Former  victories  have  given  us  new  courage.  The  agi- 
tator and  the  educator  have  done  their  work.  The  four- 
teen  states   have   waged   their   incessant   warfare.      But 


THE    FINAL    STEP  71 

today  the  scene  of  battle  has  shifted  to  the  national 
capitol.  After  all  these  steps  of  progress  the  final  step 
remains  to  be  taken.  "This  nation  can  no  longer  remain 
half  slave  and  half  free."  If  we  neglect  this  final  step 
all  other  efiforts  will  have  been  in  vain.  We  must  not 
retreat !  We  cannot  stand  still !  We  dare  not  even 
hesitate!  After  years  of  patient  toiling  we  are  ready 
for  the  final  step. 

This  final  step  in  driving  the  traffic  from  our  land  is 
an  amendment  to  the  constitution  of  the  United  States 
which  shall  forever  prohibit  the  importation,  manufac- 
ture, and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors.  This  amendment 
will  first  be  proposed  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  both  houses 
of  Congress,  after  which  it  must  be  ratified  by  three- 
fourths  of  the  states  of  the  union.  '*A  state  having  once 
ratified  the  amendment  cannot  rescind  its  action ;  but  a 
state  failing  in  its  effort  to  ratify  may  do  so  at  any 
future  time."  With  prohibition  incorporated  in  the  fed- 
eral constitution  it  will  not  only  be  permanent  but  the 
enforcement  of  the  measure  will  be  in  the  hands  of  the 
federal  authorities. 

This  is  the  most  sweeping  temperance  reform  the  world 
has  ever  known ;  and  yet  it  is  a  reasonable  reform. 
Science  has  proved  that  intoxicating  liquor  is  not  a 
necessity.  The  Supreme  Court  of  our  nation  has  de- 
clared that  no  man  has  an  inherent  right  to  sell  intoxi- 
cating liquor.  The  revenue  is  no  longer  necessary  and 
our  Supreme  Court  has  declared  that  "if  a  loss  of  revenue 
should  accrue  to  the  United  States  (because  of  prohibi- 
tion) from  a  diminished  consumption  of  ardent  spirits, 
she  will  be  the  gainer  a  thousand-fold  in  health,  wealth, 
and  happiness  of  her  people."  Human  slavery  has  been 
driven  from  our  land ;  but  another  great  evil  remains 
under  the  protection  of  our  government.  Although  the 
destruction  of  this  evil  may  break  down  old  social  cus- 
toms and  change  the  ideals  of  a  multitude  of  people,  this 
traffic  will  be  destroyed. 

Men  and  women  of  America,  unite  for  this  conflict ! 
The  saloon  represents  the  worst  in  our  national  life,  and 
all  who  stand  for  the  best  must  be  aggressively  against  it. 
We  are  equipped  for  the  fight  as  never  before.    No  other 


7? 

"■  WINNING   ORATIONS 

issues  divide  us.    The  chief  administrators  of  our  govern- 
ment are  m  sympathy  with  this  movement.     We  number 
among  our  forces  the  united  church  of  the  Hving  God 
Ihe  public  press  of  a  mighty  people  is  our  herald     We 
are  swept  forward  by  the  force  of  a  pubhc  sentiment 

^AnH  fhr?     ^     ^Tf"'''^'^   ^°''«^   °f   ^^''   «""ot   stay. 
And  the  Lord  of  Hosts  is  with  us."     We  have  driven 

n  nn"""^  fl'T  '^^  "'^^"^'^  °f  respectability  and  now, 
.n  open  conflict,  the  struggle  is  to  the  death.  And  when 
the  smoke  of  battle  has  cleared  away  the  shout  of  victory 
will  arise,  and  AMERICA  WILL  BE  FREE 


FRANK  WIDEMAN, 
Highest  Honors,  National  of  1912. 


Frank  Wideman 

Distinctive!}  representative  of  the  South,  the  spirit- 
ed, ambitious,  cultured  South,  that  combines  the  best 
of  the  old  with  the  progress  of  later  years  in  its  deal- 
ings with  the  big  national  problem  of  the  liquor  traffic, 
toward  the  solution  of  which  the  sentiment  of  that  sec- 
tion is  far  in  the  lead,  Frank  Wideman  carried  with 
him  to  National  victory  the  well-known  power  of  the 
Southern  orator. 

He  is  a  native  of  Florida,  born  at  Micanopy,  October 
21,  1891.  He  attended  Gainesville  and  Tallahassee 
high  schools  and  then  entered  Stetson  Academy. 
From  this  in  1909  he  took  up  his  college  course,  and  at 
the  time  of  winning  his  national  oratorical  honors  was 
a  Junior,  wfth  the  expectation  of  taking  a  law  course 
on  finishing  college.  While  in  high  school  at  Tallahas- 
see he  first  became  interested  in  prohibition  speaking 
contests,  winning  a  W.  C.  T.  U.  medal  at  that  time. 

In  college  he  has  made  an  excellent  reputation  in 
athletics,  debating  and  oratory.  He  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  college  quartet  and  glee  club,  manager  of 
the  latter,  a  member  and  Commander  of  the  Sigma  Nu 
fraternity,  and  an  excellent  student. 

In  the  spring  of  1910  the  first  student  prohibition 
league  was  formed  at  Stetson  and  Wideman  became  a 
member,  won  the  first  tryout,  entered  the  first  Florida 
state  prohibition  contest,  won  it,  and  spoke  for  Florida 
at  the  Eastern  Interstate  at  Gettysburg,  Pa.  In  1911  he 
again  represented  the  state  at  the  Eastern,  at  Bristol, 
Tenn.,  where  he  won  for  Florida  first  place  over  the 
state  winners  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia, 
Michigan,  Kentucky,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  This  enti- 
tled him  to  represent  the  eight  eastern  states  at  the 
1912  National.  During  the  itervening  year  he  used 
his  oration  frequently  on  public  occasions,  once  before 
the  State  Legislature  and  once  at  a  great  prohibition 
rally  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  with  some  of  the  best  speakers  of 
the  South  on  the  program. 

75 


76  WINNING    ORATIONS 

At  the  close  of  his  Sophomore  year  Frank  Wideman, 
as  a  part  of  the  Stetson  University  quartet  of  singers 
and  speakers,  spent  the  summer  in  the  statewide 
Prohibition  Amendment  campaign.  The  quartet  held 
agitation  meetings  in  every  part  of  the  state,  reaching 
seventy-five  towns  and  cities.  At  the  state  capitol  the 
governor  and  his  staff  attended.  Two  of  the  men 
spoke  each  night,  Wideman  using  the  substance  of  his 
previous  state  and  interstate  oration  on  "The  Legal 
Phase  of  the  Question."  The  work  of  this  college 
men's  team  was  immensely  popular,  received  great 
attention  through  the  papers,  and  was  one  of  the  most 
effective  vote-getting  agencies  on  the  prohibition  side. 
It  was  under  the  management  of  the  State  Anti-Saloon 
League  which,  after  the  first  month,  was  compelled  to 
select  the  most  important  places  from  the  numerous 
applications  that  came  in  from  local  prohibitionists  for 
the  services  of  the  quartet. 


The  Question  of  the  Century. 

By  F'rank  Wideman, 
Stetson  University,  '13. 

First  Honors,  National  Contest  of  1912. 
Eastern  Interstate  Winner,  Bristol,  Tenn.,  1911. 

(In  the  National  this  orator  was  ranked  first  by  four  of  the  six  judges  ; 
it  was  first  in  delivery  and  tied  for  third  in  thought  and  composition.  In 
the  preceding  Interstate  it  was  given  first  by  five  judges.) 

The  question  of  the  century  is  not  one  of  economics; 
and  yet  the  question  of  the  sanest  economics  is  held 
within  its  compass.  The  question  of  the  century  is  not 
one  of  jurisprudence  ;  and  yet  the  most  vexing  prob- 
lems of  lawmaking  and  judicial  interpretation  enter 
into  its  immediate  and  ultimate  solution.  The  question 
of  the  centuryis  not  what  the  newspapers  call  * 'conser- 
vation"; and  yet  it  is  a  thousand-fold  more  vital  to  our 
nation's  life  than  the  rebuilding  of  waste-places,  or  the 
conservation  of  our  leaping  streams  and  towering  trees. 

The  question  of  the  century,  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
embraces  all  economics,  touches  all  law,  and  deals  with 
the  loftiest  type  of  conservation  for  which  statesmen 
ever  planned  and  of  which  philosophers  ever  dreamed. 

It  is  vibrant  with  the  very  music  of  the  spheres  ;  it 
stirs  with  the  heartbeats  of  the  truest  humanity  ;  it 
blazes  with  the  altar-fires  of  everlasting  truth  ;  it  is 
luminous  with  reason,  radiant  with  hope,  and  fairly 
glorious  with  the  conquering  principles  of  Eternal 
Right  that  shall  live  until  the  stars  have  ceased  to 
twinkle  and  the  sun  has  ceased  to  shine. 

The  great  question  of  the  century  is  our  country's 
conservation — not  of  her  leaping  streams  or  of  her 
towering  trees — but  of  her  children  !  The  burning 
question  of  the  hour  is,  how  long  shall  the  Flag  of  the 
Free  throw  its  protection  around  a  business  that  can 
only  prosper  by  the  downfall  of  its  citizenship  ;  how 
long,  for  the  yellow  glare  of  the  "gold  that  leads  to 


78  WINNING    ORATIONS 

bewilder  and  dazzles  to  blind,"  shall  that  flag,  bought 
with  the  blood  of  our  fathers  and  secured  by  the  loyal 
prowess  of  her  sons,  wave  its  folds  over  the  legalized 
saloon — the  saloon  that  is  the  trysting- place  of  anarchy, 
the  hot-bed  of  crime,  the  companion  of  the  brothel, 
and  the  gateway  to  hell  ? 

All  the  revenues  from  our  tariff,  all  the  nation's 
wealth  and  international  glory,  and  all  the  develop- 
ment of  our  resources  that  can  come  from  the  startling 
genius  of  man,  cannot  requite  the  treasury  of  our 
country,  nor  the  ranks  of  our  manhood,  for  the  horri- 
ble losses  that  come  from  the  legalized  saloon.  Think 
of  it,  you  who  charge  us  with  undue  excitement  over 
the  tragic  denouement  of  a  sentimental  drama  ;  think 
of  it,  you  who  ask  for  facts  instead  of  fiction,  and  for 
force  instead  of  fancy's  "fitful  dream";  think  of  it,  you 
who  promise  Utopian  delivercnce  through  railroad  reg- 
ulation and  tariff  legislation;  think  of  it,  if  you  are  not 
lost  to  all  reason  and  blind  to  all  truth:  "The  net  earn- 
ings of  all  the  railroads  in  America  will  not  pay  the 
nation's  drink  bill  for  sixty  days";  while  the  liquor 
problem,  even  from  a  commercial  standpoint,  is  se\en 
times  as  large  as  the  question  of  the  nation's  tariff  ! 
The  senses  reel  and  stagger  over  the  proven  findings 
of  statistics  that  seven  hundred  twenty  thousand  lives 
in  America  go  out  every  year  as  the  direct  or  indirect 
influence  of  alcohol.  Even  the  commercial  productive- 
ness is  cut  off  thirteen  billion  dollars  by  the  depleting 
appetites  of  twenty-three  million  regular  drinkers  and 
the  untimely  deaths  of  these  seven  hundred  twenty 
thousand  citizens.  This  tragedy  every  year,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  moral  debauchery  of  the  millions  who 
plot  and  scheme  for  this  unspeakable  "dominion  of 
iniquity"! 

Above  all  the  horrible  names  that  tower  in  their 
bloody  blackness  over  the  bones  of  man  and  the  cem- 
eteries of  time,  stands  the  loathsome  figure  of  the 
Mongol  King  who  marked  the  march  of  his  progress 
by  pyramids  of  human  skulls.  Secure  in  his  revolting 
infamy  and  isolation,  unrivaled  even  by  Caligula  of  old 
or  Leopold  of  modern  times,  this  Asiatic  monster  dips 


TlIK    QUKSTION    OF    THE    CENTURY  79 

his  spear  afresh  in  human  blood  and  writes  his  name 
highest  yet  among  the  ancients  in  Pandemonium's' 
black  Hall  of  Fame.  But,  like  another  Genghis  Kahn, 
without  one  gleam  of  conscience  to  restrain,  and  with- 
out one  bright  spot  in  all  its  haunting  history,  stands 
the  horrible  form  of  the  legalized  saloon,  building  its 
own  pyramid  of  human  skulls  ;  crowding  our  asylums; 
fighting  our  churches  ;  debauching  our  government ; 
blighting  our  homes,  and  throwing  over  the  hearts  and 
hopes  of  millions  of  women  and  children  a  pall  of  cruel 
and  unending  night. 

In  the  presence  of  these  appalling  facts,  we  are 
forced  to  the  inevitable  conclusion  that  Uncle  Sam 
stands  convicted  today  before  the  bar  of  reason  as  the 
most  gigantic  illustration  of  monumental  inconsistency 
among  all  the  nations  of  all  the  earth.  In  his  attitude 
toward  humanity  at  large  and  his  own  children  at  home 
he  mingles  more  of  "kingly  kindness"  and  consuming 
cruelty  than  mortal  man  can  understand  or  statesmen 
dare  explain.  Let  pestilence  sweep  some  distant  shore 
and  the  American  government  backs  the  Red  Cross 
evangels  on  their  errands  of  human  deliverance  ;  let 
famine,  with  all  its  horrors,  fall  upon  China  or  southern 
Russia,  where 

'■'On  pallet  of  straw  age  rests  its  head 
And  blue-lipped  children  cry  for  bread," 

and  the  prows  of  our  grain  ships  part  the  waters  as 
fast  as  steam  can  carry  them,  bearing  bread  to  the 
starving  and  comfort  to  the  dying.  Yes,  in  our  own 
land,  where  Yellow  Fever  threatens  or  the  Great  White 
Plague  is  eating  away  the  hopes  and  happiness  of 
thousands,  our  government  votes  millions  of  dollars  to 
stamp  out  death-dealing  disease.  And  yet,  for  the 
sake  of  so  much  "hush  money"  paid  cash  in  hand,  our 
government  deliberately  sells  the  privilege  to  kill  her 
own  children — sells  it  while  looking  with  stony  stare 
into  the  millions  of  hearts  it  will  crush  and  into  the 
millions  of  homes  whose  portals  it  will  darken.  And, 
to  cap  the  climax,  not  content  with  the  sickening  pa- 
ternalism of  shame,  our  government  offers  a   monu- 


80  WINNING    ORATIONS 

mental  insult  to  her  own  children  by  going  into  states 
and  communities  where  sovereign  decency  has  driven 
out  the  saloon,  and  encouraging  the  violation  of  law — 
encouraging  it  by  allowing  the  shipment  of  liquor  into 
territory  that  has  voted  to  be  free,  and  by  saying  to 
the  lawless  venders  in  these  same  communities  :  "Pay 
me  for  my  internal  revenue  license  and  I  will  shut  my 
eyes  while  you  and  your  home  authorities  fight  it  out." 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  how  shall  we  deal  with  this 
coUossal  crime  of  all  the  ages  ?  Is  there  a  remedy  for 
it  ?  I  answer,  YES,  and  I  submit  to  you  that  the  rem- 
edy is  nation-wide  prohibition,  and  that  the  first  step 
towards  its  realization  is  state-wide  prohibition.  And 
the  remedy  will  come  when  our  political  leaders  shall 
become  our  moral  leaders  as  well,  and  when  every  man 
shall  wrap  a  regnant  conscience  around  a  spotless  bal- 
lot and  fight  back  every  cringing  coward  and  every 
shameful  compromise  in  the  conquering  battle  for  a 
stainless  flag  ! 

They  tell  us  that  ours  is  a  battle  waged  by  sentimen- 
talists. Ah,  intrepid  knights  in  the  holiest  chivalry 
the  world  has  ever  seen,  remember  that  "Sentiment  has 
shotted  every  gun  that  has  spouted  fire  in  the  name  of 
liberty,  and  nerved  every  arm  that  ever  struck  in  the 
name  of  truth  and  justice."  It  was  sentiment  that 
bathed  Marathon  and  Platea  in  blood  ;  it  was  senti- 
ment that  gave  Sparta  her  living  walls  ;  and  it  was 
sentiment  that  rang  the  Liberty  Bell  and  fired  the  shot 
at  Lexini^ton  !  It  was  sentiment  that  bared  every 
loyal  breast  that  marched  from  Bull  Run  to  Appo- 
mattox— whether  standing  bravely  with  McClellan  ana 
Grant,  or  spilling  the  blood  of  heroes  in  the  cause  for 
which  Robert  E.  Lee  fought  and  Stonewall  Jackson 
fell! 

Then,  my  friends,  in  the  settlement  of  this  great 
question  of  the  century,  let  us  call  ourselves  and  our 
compatriots  into  a  new  baptism  of  sentiment  that  will 
nerve  our  arms  to  labor  and  fill  our  souls  with  fire  and 
song.  Let  us  remember  that  each  local  victory  and 
defeat  is  but  a  passing  battle  in  a  mighty  war — a  war 
with  ultimate  uictory  as  the  beckoning  star  in  the  sky 


THE    QUESTION    OF    THE    CENTURY  81 

of  our  purpose  and  our  dreams.  Let  us  remember  that 
extermination  and  not  regulation  is  the  one  solution  of 
this  towering  question  of  the  century — that  the  regula- 
tion of  a  den  of  rattlesnakes  would  be  an  easy  task 
compared  with  the  regulation  or  reformation  of  the 
treacherous  saloon.  The  axe  must  be  laid  at  the  root 
of  the  tree  !  "On  to  Washington  !"  is  the  cry  of  the 
conquering  army.  The  national  conscience  is  already 
awakening ;  the  citadel  of  King  Alcohol  is  already 
trembling  ;  and  the  victory  is  no  longer  like  the  dis- 
tant twinkle  of  the  morning  star  but  like  the  radiant 
glow  of  the  coming  morn.  And  this  is  not  an  optimis- 
tic idealism  devoutly  to  be  wished  for  but  too  unnat- 
ural to  be  attained  ;  it  is  not  the  visionary  flight  of  a 
baseless  poetic  fancy  ;  it  is  not  the  rose-tinted  coloring 
of  a  vain  Utopian  dream  ;  it  is  a  glorious  possibility. 
It  will  be  a  more  glorious  reality  when  every  woman  is 
true  to  the  "heavenly  vision"  and  American  citizen  is 
a  freeman  and  a  king. 


Harry  G.  McCain 

A  native  Oregonian,  born  at  Brownsville  twenty-six 
years  previous  to  the  date  of  winning  his  national  student 
oratorical  honors,  a  Junior  at  Willamette,  the  oldest  col- 
lege in  the  Northwest,  Harry  G.  McCain  personified  in 
an  all-around  way  the  best  type  of  college  man  that  this 
new-growing  Oregon,  which  yields  a  social  or  political 
reform  in  a  day,  can  produce. 

Born  in  1886,  his  early  education  was  in  the  public 
schools  and  high  school  of  Brownsville,  after  which  he 
entered  upon  a  law  course  at  Willamette  University, 
Salem,  located  just  next  to  the  state  capitol  building.  His 
religious  conversion  lead  to  the  abandonment  of  the  law- 
yer ambition,  and  the  determination  to  enter  the  minis- 
try. A  liberal  arts  course  then  became  a  necessary  prep- 
aration. 

His  student  enterprises  indicate  an  unusually  strong 
all-round  human  interest  in  the  affairs  of  every-day  peo- 
ple. He  was  a  member  of  the  varsity  football  team,  a 
popular  "mixer"  with  his  fellow  students,  president  of 
the  University  Student  P.ody.  of  his  literary  society  more 
times  than  any  other  man  in  its  history,  a  debater,  college 
representative  in  oratory,  active  in  the  prohibition  league, 
and  stuilent  pastor.  As  preacher  he  held  the  most  impor- 
tant student  charge  in  the  Methodist  church  of  the  state, 
and  was  a  leader  in  the  young  people's  religious  work  of 
his  district. 

In  public  speaking  McCain  won  the  silver  cup  for  the 
Philodorians  in  the  inter-society  contest  in  his  sophomore 
year.  In  1912  he  represented  the  University  in  two  state 
contests,  the  prohibition,  and  the  *'old  line,"  winning  first 
and  second  respectively.  In  the  Interstate,  of  the  prohi- 
bition series,  representing  all  the  states  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  at  Salem,  he  won  the  privilege  of  speaking  for  his 
section  at  the  National  at  Atlantic  City.  N.  J. 

He  is  keenly  interested  in  the  anti-liquor  movement  as 
one  of  the  most  vital  problems  requiring  early  settlement. 


HARRY  G.  McCain. 
Second  Honors,   National  of  1912. 


HARRY   G.    m'cAIN  85 

When  he  began  to  prepare  his  oration,  a  year  before  the 
local  try-out,  he  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  non-political,/ 
or  non-partisan  methods  of  settlement,  and  he  began  to 
write  with  this  in  mind.  "But,"  as  he  says,  "I  came  to 
realize  that  the  party  method,  having  been  tested  in  regard 
to  other  great  reforms,  and  having  proved  adequate,  is 
the  proper,  logical,  and  only  certain  solution."  This 
mental  struggle  of  a  year  produced  a  deep  and  forceful 
manuscript  that  won  the  first  grade  from  judges  in  state, 
interstate  and  national,  who  were  not  personally  in  full 
agreement  with  the  solution  proposed. 

It  is  one  of  McCain's  leading  life  ambitions  to  be  of 
large  service  toward  national  prohibition. 


Liquor  versus  Liberty. 

By  Harry  G.  ]\IcCaix, 
Willamette  University,  '13. 

Second  Honors,  National  Contest  of  1912. 
Western  Interstate  Winner,  Salem,  Ore.,  1912. 

(This  oration  was  marked  second  in  thought  and  composition  and  third 
in  delivery.) 

The  love  of  liberty  is  one  of  the  strongest  emotions  o'f 
man.  It  is  one  of  the  most  potent  of  all  the  motive  forces 
of  history.  Around  this  God-implanted  desire  have  cen- 
tered the  greatest  achievements  of  individuals,  the  wars 
and  struggles  of  nations,  and  the  mightiest  conflicts  of 
the  races.  Adovvn  through  the  ages  the  longing  for  free- 
dom has  never  ceased  its  struggle  for  expression  and 
realization.  It  is  true,  however,  that  the  attainment  of 
this  desire  has  invariably  brought  new  duties  and  wider 
obligation  to  law.  The  first  great  historical  movement 
for  freedom  was  the  Exodus  of  the  Israelites.  Moses 
led  them  out  of  industrial,  political,  and  religious  bond- 
age. lUit  freedom  brought  with  it  the  responsibilities  of 
self-government ;  it  demanded  that  Indiz-idnal  liberties  be 
relinquished  to  the  common  good.  Thus,  the  annals  of 
history  show  that  true  liberty  is  never  found  apart  from 
law,  while  the  greatest  protection  and  benefits  are  secured 
to  society  only  when  personal  liberties  have  been  willingly 
surrendered. 

This  universe  in  which  we  live  is  governed  by  a  sys- 
tem of  inexorable  law.  Every  particle  of  matter,  from 
the  smallest  atom  to  the  great  pilcd-up  mountains ;  and 
every  manifestation  of  the  life  principle,  from  the  sim- 
plest blade  of  grass  to  the  kingliest  man,  must  recognize 
its  sway.  In  respect  to  civil  law,  he  who  persists  in  its 
violation  becomes  the  victim  of  its  penalty.  More  than 
two  thousand  years  ago,  Plato  taught  his  disciples  that 
the  moral  criminal  is  a  slave;  and  that  the  noblest  aim  of 

86 


LIQUOR    VKKSUS    LIBKRTV  87 

citizenship  is  a  life  of  subservience  to  the  ideals  of  gov- 
ernment. Now,  this  principle,  translated  into  the  terms 
of  a  moral  or  political  problem,  means  that  personal  lib- 
erty is  never  license ;  that  it  does  not  give  to  the  individ- 
ual the  right  to  act  contrary  to  the  common  interests  of 
society. 

The  paramount  moral  and  political  question  of  this  age 
is  the  Liquor  Problem.  It  is  true,  as  claimed  by  some, 
that  this  question  has  also  its  economic  phase.  But  it  is 
mainly  a  moral  issue,  and  I  insist  that  it  be  considered 
from  the  moral  view-point ;  that  the  worst  crime  of  the 
saloon  is  its  awful  deterioration  of  the  character  of  our 
citizenship ;  that  its  costliest  toll  is  in  virtue  rather  than 
in  wealth ;  and  I  plead  that  the  windows  of  our  national 
conscience  be  no  longer  barred  with  gold. 

Others  tell  us  that  prohibition  is  not  a  political  ques- 
tion. But  why  not  a  political  question?  Is  not  prohibi- 
tion of  national  significance  ?  The  Tariff  question  is  nec- 
essarily local  and  sectional.  About  other  great  political 
questions,  such  as  railway  supervision  and  anti-trust  leg- 
islation, there  is  substantial  agreement.  But  not  so  the 
problem  of  liquor !  Prohibition  concerns  every  foot  of 
our  wide  domain ;  prohibition  affects  every  element  of 
our  citizenship ;  while  in  every  class  of  society  it  has  both 
friends  and  foes.  Surely,  the  problem  of  licensed  liquor 
is  the  most  truly  National  Issue  of  to-day.  Again,  does 
Liquor  stand  aloof  from  politics  ?  No  ;  the  very  fact  that 
Liquor  is  strongly  entrenched  in  our  governmental 
machinery  demands  that  Prohibition  be  considered  a 
political  question.  The  liquor  traffic  is  responsible  for 
most  of  our  civic  corruption  and  political  crime:  it  cor- 
rupts legislation,  perverts  justice  and,  too  often,  controls 
the  administration  of  government.  Prohibition  not  a 
political  question  !  Then,  it  is  time  for  the  patriotic  man- 
hood of  America  to  rise  in  its  sovereign  power  and  pro- 
nounce it  a  political  question. 

Declared  by  great  economists  to  be  a  ''Financial  Para- 
site," unanimously  adjudged  "The  most  prolific  source 
of  crime"  by  our  courts  of  law ;  and  condemned  at  the 
bar  of  public  opinion,  the  saloon  has  taken  refuge  in  the 


88  WINNING   ORATIONS 

''personal  liberty"  argument.  Champions  of  the  liquor 
traffic  decry  prohibitive  law  as  an  "infringement  upon 
personal  freedom."  Their  case  is  well  put  by  an  attorney 
of  national  reputation,  who  said:  "I  have  nothing  good 
to  say  in  behalf  of  liquor ;  but  if  a  man  wants  to  drink 
it,  or  if  he  desires  to  engage  in  its  traffic,  we  have  no 
right  to  restrict  his  personal  liberty."  Fellow  Citizens,  I 
protest  against  the  logic  and  spirit  of  his  argument.  It 
is  contrary  to  the  very  purpose  of  American  freedom.  It 
is  narrowly  individualistic.  It  fails  to  consider  the  indi- 
vidual's relation  to  social  life.  ^lodern  society  is  so  closely 
interrelated  that  the  acts  of  every  person  afifect  the  whole 
fabric.  As  Herbert  Spencer,  the  great  scientist-philoso- 
pher, said,  "Xo  one  can  be  perfectly  moral  until  all  are 
moral,  and  no  one  can  be  perfectly  happy  until  alVare 
happy."  The  corner-stone  of  American  civilization — lib- 
erty under  law — is  attacked  by  liquor's  interpretation  of 
personal  freedom.  If  the  saloon  distates  the  attitude  of 
our  society  toward  the  restraints  of  government,  the 
inevitable  result  is  moral  and  social  anarcliy. 

Thus,  the  organized  liquor  traffic  is  an  impending  men- 
ace to  American  institutions.  The  avowed  champion  of 
freedom ! — it  attempts  to  Icthargize  tiie  individual  with 
the  personal  libcrt\  sophistry,  while  it  throttles  the  Fed- 
eral Government  which  is  at  once  the  source  and  protec- 
tor of  all  civic  freedom.  Liquor  a  friend  to  Liberty? 
Rather,  its  most  deadly  foe !  The  liquor  system  is  the 
despoiler  of  social  freedom ;  it  lays  its  blighting  hand 
upon  useful  citizens  and  casts  the;n  back  upon  society, 
paupers  and  criminals.  It  destroys  political  freedom,  for 
it  largely  controls  the  policies  of  our  great  political 
parties.  The  liquor  machine,  backed  by  a  gigantic  trust, 
is  the  dominant  factor  in  our  present-day  policies.  More- 
over, in  this  wrong  there  is  no  recourse  to  government ; 
for  here,  government  is  powerless.  Aye,  worse  than 
powerless ! — vitiated  by  its  alliance  with  evil !  For  over 
seventy  per  cent  of  our  internal  revenue  we  are  dependent 
upon  our  government's  complicity  in  tlie  Crime  of  Alco- 
hol. America  cannot  insure  freedom  to  her  subjects 
because   America  herself  is  not   free.     The  people  wlio 


LIQUOR    VERSUS    LIBERTY  89 

gained  their  own  liberty  in  revolution ;  the  nation  that 
won  freedom  for  the  Black  Man  in  civil  war ;  the  nation 
that  has  gone  to  the  utmost  isles  of  the  sea  in  behalf  of 
oppressed  and  benighted  peoples — this  nation,  once  the 
land  of  freemen,  now  crouches  an  abject  slave  at  the  feet 
of  despotic  liquor. 

The  liquor  despotism  is  nation-wide.  It  domineers  in 
civic  life  and  wields  its  scepter  over  society  in  every  state, 
county  and  municipality.  Dependence  upon  local  reform 
to  break  its  tyrannical  power  is  futile ;  we  can  never  kill 
the  vine  by  trimming  the  ends  of  the  branches.  A  politi- 
cal axe,  laid  to  the  very  root  of  the  system,  is  the  only 
logical  and  certain  solution.  Non-political  organizations 
have  been  mighty  factors  in  spreading  intelligence  and 
creating  sentiment  against  the  saloon.  But  these  moral 
forces  must  unite  with  the  political  and  develop  into  legal 
standards  before  they  can  achieve  a  national  reform.  This 
can  be  accomplished  only  through  a  political  party.  Every 
politico-moral  reform  of  the  last  century  was  effected  by 
the  party  method.  It  was  moral  force  expressed  through 
the  political  medium  that  "saved  the  Union,  kept  the  stars 
in  the  flag,"  and  gave  the  slave  his  freedom.  From  the 
dominant  political  parties,  Prohibition  can  expect  noth- 
ing. For  more  than  a  generation,  while  the  saloon  has 
flagrantly  betrayed  the  Nation's  every  interest,  and  while 
the  saving  remnant  has  longed  and  labored  for  the 
redemption  of  the  new  Israel,  upon  this  Paramount  Issue 
the  Old  Parties  have  kept  an  inglorious  silence.  Do  we 
actually  desire  freedom  from  the  bondage  of  organized 
liquor?  Then,  let  us  cast  aside  every  creed  and  prejudice, 
and  stand  together  as  a  great  political  part^^  upon  a  clearly 
defined  issue  of  National  Emancipation,  and  victory  shall 
be  ours. 

The  hour  is  near  at  hand  when  America  shall  retu^-n 
to  pristine  power.  Not  far  away  in  the  future  an  army 
of  citizen-soldiers  is  gathering  that  shall  break  our  coun- 
try's shackles  and  let  the  slave  go  free.  Fiercely  waged 
will  be  the  conflict,  and  costly  the  sacrifice ;  but  the  out- 
come is  inevitable.  In  the  irrepressible  struggle  between 
righteousness   and   evil,   the   Right   must   ever  triumph. 


90  WINNING    ORATIONS 

This  conflict  will  be  fought  through  to  victory.  There 
can  be  no  compromise ; 

"List  the  ominous  stern  whisper  from  the  Delphic  cave  within  : 
'They  enslave  their  children's  children  who  make  compromise 
with  sin.'  '* 

Now  we  hear  the  battle  cry  calling  for  men  to  enlist  in 
this  ''new-old  war."  We  see  the  response.  The  forces 
of  good  citizenship  fall  into  line  behind  that  emblem  of 
freedom  that  never  knew  defeat.  Upheld  by  the  omnipo- 
tence of  truth,  they  ascend  the  mountains  of  liquor  boss- 
ism  ;  they  sweep  down  upon  the  plains  of  political  bribery 
and  irresistably  across  the  rivers  of  legislative  corrup- 
tion. On  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  the  hosts  of  Liberty 
make  their  final  stand.  They  meet  in  deadly  conflict. 
The  forces  of  Liquor  are  vanquished.  The  captor  is 
deposed,  and  the  captive,  now  free  and  ennobled,  mounts 
the  throne  of  a  purified  government.  Then,  from  the 
dome  of  our  Capitol,  reconsecrated  to  the  cause  of  Lib- 
erty, is  flung  to  the  breezes  of  heaven  a  Stainless  Mag 
with  "not  a  stripe  polluted,  nor  a  smgle  star  obscured." 


LAUREL  E.  ELAM. 
Highest  Honors,  National  of  1910. 


Laurel  E.  Elam. 

Ever  a  quiet  studious  boy,  yet  with  a  great  love  for 
athletics,  from  his  early  youth  Laurel  E.  Elam  gave 
promise  of  the  scholar's  disposition,  the  thinker  who 
would  work  his  own  way  to  success  and  that  without 
anyone  suspecting  his  real  strength — himself  least  of  all. 

It  was  in  this  way  that  he  won  the  highest  National 
honors  in  the  prohibition  series  of  intercollegiate  ora- 
torical contests.  A  senior  student  at  Greenville  Col- 
lege, 111.,  in  the  winter  of  1909-10,  a  faithful  member  of 
the  League,  a  quiet,  deep  and  almost  secluded  student, 
he  entered  student  activities  for  the  first  time  in  his  col- 
lege career  and  rapidly  came  to  the  very  front  in  all- 
round  college  life,  in  baseball,  tennis,  track  athletics, 
basketball,  literary  society  work,  social  affairs  and  chorus 
work,  and  as  a  baritone  soloist  and  a  debater. 

He  entered  the  local  League  oratorical  contest  as  a 
"dark  horse,"  feared  by  none  of  the  other  orators,  but 
won  first  in  a  very  spirited  and  hard-fought  contest ;  this 
gave  him  representation  in  the  Illinois  state,  and  the  vic- 
tory there  entitled  him  to  speak  in  the  Eastern  Interstate, 
to  which  Illinois  was  for  the  time  assigned,  although 
logically  belonging  to  the  Central  Interstate  section.  In 
the  Interstate  held  that  year  at  Gettysburg,  Pa.,  Elam 
was  awarded  first  out  of  eight  state  winners.  In  the 
National  at  Valparaiso,  Ind.,  June  17  of  the  same  year, 
the  first  prize  of  $100  in  gold  was  won  by  the  breaking 
of  a  tie  in  ranks  on  the  very  small  margin  of  534  points 
over  530  by  Lewis  M.  Simes  of  Kansas,  who  was  given 
second  place. 

Laurel  E.  Elam  was  born  on  a  farm  near  Coffeen,  111., 
just  twenty-one  years  before  he  entered  upon  his  student 
oratorical  career.  His  boyhood  was  very  much  like  that 
of  all  ordinary  out-door  country  boys,  except  for  two 
characteristics;  as  a  baby  he  was  said  to  have  been  very 
beautiful,  and  he  always  liked  school  from  the  time  of 

93 


94  WINNING    ORATIONS 

first  Starting  at  the  age  of  five.  His  school  and  student 
days  were  filled  successively  at  the  country  school,  at 
the  Coffeen  High  School,  Greenville  Business  College, 
a  summer  at  the  University  of  Illinois,  and  the  complete 
college  course  at  Greenville,  from  which  he  graduated 
in  19 10.  As  a  boy  and  young  man  he  worked  at  the 
ordinary  occupations  of  farm  boy,  in  a  creamery,  res- 
taurant, grocery  store,  office,  and  at  teaching. 

Mr.  Elam  early  came  into  conflict  with  the  saloon  in 
his  home  town,  which  was  not  then  "dry."  He  became 
intimately  acquainted  with  the  work  of  the  Prohibition 
party,  and  actively  interested  in  the  principles  which  his 
oration  so  clearly  defends,  as  a  member  of  the  enthu- 
siastic Prohibition  League  at  Greenville.  It  is  his  pur- 
pose to  make  his  life  count  decidedly  for  prohibition  in 
connection  with  law,  as  his  profession. 

He  is  now  studying  law  at  the  ITniversity  of  Chicago, 
having  gained  a  scholarship  in  that  institution.  In  1909 
Elam  was  one  of  two  college  men  of  the  state  who 
passed  the  Rhodes  Scholarship  examination. 


Party  Principles. 

By  Laurel  E.  Elam, 
Greenville  College,  'lo. 

First  Honors,  National  Contest  of  1910. 
Eastern  Interstate  Orator  for  1910. 

(This  oration  was  given  second  in  thought  and  composition  and  tied  for 
first  in  delivery  at  the  National.) 

Our  fathers  began  the  study  of  Government  with  the 
preamble  of  the  Constitution,  and  completed  it  with  the 
Fifteenth  Amendment.  We  are  much  more  concerned 
with  the  study  of  those  intricate  organizations,  which, 
though  no  constitutional  provision  was  made  for  them, 
have  insidiously  worked  their  way  into  the  government 
of  our  country  and  have  so  grounded  themselves  in  oui 
history  that  we  can  now  scarce  comprehend  a  system 
of  government  without  them.  These  extra-legal  organ- 
izations we  cair  parties.  It  is  by  the  proper  study  of 
their  principles  and  policies  that  we  come  to  a  full  un- 
derstanding of  the  status  and  tendencies  of  our  govern- 
ment. 

The  question  upon  which  the  people  of  the  Union  first 
divided  was  whether  or  not  we  should'  have  a  strong 
central  government.  But  why  should  men  disagree  on 
this  question?  Did  some  desire  less  protection?  No,  the 
fear  was  that  there  might  be  established  certain  economic 
conditions  \Vhich  would  not  be  conducive  to  the  best 
interests  of  their  individual  sections.  This  basis,  or 
ground-principle,  of  the  first  parties  of  the  United  States 
upon  examination  will  be  found  to  be  the  same  in  all 
parties  past  and  present.  This  is  the  criterion  of  every 
party :  that  it  secure  and  insure  good  economic  conditions. 

It  is  in  the  policies  by  which  this  ideal  is  to  be  reached 
that  parties  differ.  The  two  great  parties  of  the  present 
day,  as  have  most  of  those  in  the  past,  employ  what  may 
be  termed  Direct  Policies ;  that  is,  the  great  planks  of 

95 


96  WINNING   ORATIONS 

their  platforms  deal  directly  with  the  economic  problems, 
such  as  banks,  tariffs,  corporations. 

If  we  thoughtfully  review  the  history  of  our  country, 
we  find  ample  reason  why,  to-day,  these  Direct  Policies 
predominate.  In  building  up  any  new  country  the 
struggle  is  for  existence.  The  public  life  of  our  colonial 
forefathers  was  taken  up  with  deliberations  on  taxes, 
couched  in  terms  of  "rights."  The  success  of  govern- 
ment, begun  under  the  Constitution,  hinged  on  the  treas- 
ury department.  During  the  expansion  in  tlie  early  part 
of  the  nineteenth  century  new  questions  of  a  similar 
kind  forced  themselves  upon  the  people ;  we  read  of 
parties  taking  sides  on  such  questions  as  Protective 
Tariff,  United  States  Bank  and  Internal  Improvements. 
And  so  man's  mind,  accustomed  generation  after  genera- 
tion to  fomi  parties  on  such  questions,  has  refused  to 
hsten  to  the  suggestion  that  there  might  be  another  basis 
of  formation. 

Even  the  outcome  of  the  slavery  question  failed  to 
teach  this  great  lesson.  With  pride  did  the  Republican 
demagogue  point  to  the  splendid  moral  service  to 
humanity,  with  eloc|uence  has  he  dwelt  of  late  on  the 
economic  development  of  the  South  ;  and  yet  through  it 
all  there  has  not  come  to  him  that  forceful  idea  that 
Morals  and  Economics  are  so  closely  connected :  that 
one  cannot  approach  its  ideal  without  the  other ;  that 
without  one  the  other  cannot  long  exist.  Imagine  morals 
where  economic  conditions  are  chaotic :  man's  mind  and 
will  are  too  much  dependent  upon  his  physical  wants. 
Or  imagine  economic  conchtions  without  morals ;  for 
good  economic  conditions  in  a  civic  society  presuppose  a 
thrifty,  fair-dealing,  upright  people.  It  is  these  axio- 
matic, fundamental  truths  to  which  politicians  have 
closed  their  eyes — truths  which  suggest  a  different  and 
logical  basis  of  party  formation  on  problems  other  than 
economic,  by  Policy  wliich  we  may  call  Indirect. 

The  point  at  issue  is  not  escaped  by  boasting  of  the 
advancing  standard  of  morals  and  blindly  trusting  in 
the  "good  sense  of  Americans."  Xote  the  appalling 
evils    which    confront    us:    the    Liquor    Problem;    the 


PARTY    PRINCIPLES  97 

Cigarette  Curse ;  Political  Corruption ;  and  that  hidden 
sore  of  the  world,  the  White  Slave  Traffic,  which,  with 
divorce  and  associate  evils,  is  the  greatest  curse  the 
world  has  ever  known.  The  practice  of  morals  must  ad- 
vance toward  the  standard  of  morals. 

But  of  all  these  evils,  why  attack  the  Liquor  Traffic? 
Now,  there  is  /lo  need  of  enumerating  to  an  intelligent 
public  the  awful  consequences  of  drink.  It  is  sufficient 
that  these  facts  be  emphasized:  first,  this  evil  is  one 
that  may  be  attacked  openly  and  directly  and  destroyed 
at  its  source ;  second,  every  evil  tends  to  augment  every 
other  evil ;  how  much  corrupt  politics  can  be  traced 
directly  to  the  liquor  forces !  How  many  vices  under 
its  patronage !  Here  is  the  answer  then :  by  attacking 
the  liquor  traffic,  and  totally  destroying  it,  immediate 
help  and  happiness  will  come  to  thousands  and  thousands 
of  homes ;  but,  what  is  better,  the  foundations  will  be 
removed  from  the  more  subtle  evils,  thereby  giving  to 
the  country's  morals,  upon  which  depend  future  economic 
conditions,  a  tremendous  uplift. 

How,  then,  do  men  persist  in  stigmatizing  the  Prohibi- 
tion party  as  a  narrow  party?  A  party  of  one  principle? 
He  is  a  shallow  thinker  who  joins  it  because,  moved  by 
sympathy,  he  would  brighten  the  faces  of  wives  and 
children  of  one  generation.  Its  understanding  is  more 
profound.  The  Prohibition  party  is  in  keeping  with  this 
scientific  age :  not  satisfied  that  the  world  of  politics  is 
held  aloft  on  the  uncertain  shoulders  of  banks  and 
tariffs,  it  breaks  asunder  the  old  bonds  of  custom  and 
habit  of  thinking  and  casts  about  for  those  underlying 
laws  hidden  amidst  the  complexity  of  social  and  political 
life — laws  which  must  be  found  and  applied  in  deciding 
the  right  course  of  government.  Based  on  the  funda- 
mental law  that  florals  and  Economics  go  hand  in  hand, 
it  rears  a  structure  that  is  true  to  the  one  principle  that 
all  parties  profess  to  hold,  since  it  aims  not  alone  at  se- 
curing but  also  at  insuring  good  economic  conditions. 

Now  some  one  complains,  "This  Indirect  Policy  would 
be  harmful ;  men  must  be  bound  by  platform  promises 
on   economic  problems."     Reason  does  not  sustain   the 


98  WINNING   ORATIONS 

objection.  Who  would  not  gladly  give  over  the  solution 
of  these  problems  to  men  who  are  not  pledged,  but  who 
offer  studious  and  conscientious  efforts  for  this  purpose? 
Moreover,  legislative  procedure  is  consciously  directed 
not  so  much  toward  ends  that  require  the  thought  of 
sages.  It  is  almost  wholly  concerned  with  general  busi- 
ness routine;  and  in  this  work  honesty  is  the  first  re- 
quisite. Do  not  the  late  "special  interest"  tariff  and  "land 
grabs"  demonstrate  this  fact?  WHiat  is  to  be  lost  when 
those  men  are  put  into  office  who  have  no  written  plat- 
form pledges  on  these  questions  to  evade,  and  have  a  con- 
science to  follow? 

Still  the  voters  hesitate  in  calling  for  the  change.  Is 
it  because  they  would  rather  see  an  upper  Chamber  filled 
with  the  Lords  of  W^ool,  Copper,  Steel,  Rubber,  and  Oil? 
Is  it  because  they  would  hear  one  of  these  worthy  sena- 
tors spend  a  few  hours  on  the  size  of  a  tobacco  sack 
rather  than  the  liquor  question  ?  Is  it  because  they  like 
the  idea  of  Cannonism?  Or  is  it  the  last  marks  of 
servility  which  have  clung  to  us  from  the  Middle  Ages 
and  which  we  of  this  boasted  age  of  liberty  and  reason 
refuse  to  shake  oft"?  The  political  party  was  formed  to 
be  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  people.  But  now 
this  Baal  of  our  handiwork  is  our  God  on  whose  altar 
we  cast  our  independence  of  thought  and  action.  We  no 
longer  direct  and  shape  our  party's  course,  but  heedlessly 
drift  wherever  it  carries  us.  Truly  has  Bryce  observed 
that  "the  more  perfect  the  organizations  of  the  old 
j)arties  become,  the  fewer  are  their  principles  and  the 
fainter  their  interest  in  those  principles!"  The  two  old 
parties  have  ceased  to  be  distinct.  Think  of  it !  Nine 
out  of  ten  voters  at  the  last  election  would  say  that  it 
was  a  choice  between  men  and  not  between  principles. 

Nor  is  anything  better  promised.  "Stand  pat"  is  the 
cry  of  one  party  and  the  understood  policy  of  the  other. 
Through  this  wall  the  progressives  of  cither  party  can- 
not break.  STAND  PAT !  Could  there  be  contained 
in  two  small  words  such  a  lamentable  store  of  folly ! 
Such  a  fullness  of  nonsense!  Anything  so  contrary  to 
the  recognized  laws  of  Political  Science !     .\re  we  to  be 


PARTY   PRINCIPLES  99 

carried  to  destruction,  lulled  to  contentment  by  this  song 
of  Prosperity  ?  Are  we  to  glory  in  what  our  forefathers 
did  and  take  no  stock  in  the  future? 

The  question  of  the  correct  form  of  government  is  not 
the  only  one  which  America  was  destined  to  settle.  Can 
we  comprehend  what  perplexities  will  be  ushered  in  with 
an  increasing  population :  when  our  cities  become  more 
and  more  packed;  when  exploitation  of  resources  is 
limited;  when  homesteads  are  not  available?  Even  now 
the  great  problem  of  Capital  and  Labor  looms  up  before 
us  like  a  mighty  mountain  whose  outlines  are  hidden 
amid  clouds  of  difficulty.  What  its  enormous  propor- 
tions are  we  can  only  guess.  How  plainly  the  solution 
of  these  difficulties  calls  for  intelligence  and  sobriety 
among  the  people,  justice  in  the  judiciary,  honesty  and 
wisdom  in  our  legislatures !  It  is  these  qualities  for 
which  the  Prohibition  party  is  striving!  It  is  these 
qualities  which  the  Prohibition  party  will  secure  and 
perpetuate  from  that  hour  when  it  realizes  its  principles  I 


Lewis  M.  Simes. 

A  college  man  from  the  prohibition  state  of  Kansas, 
where  he  had  abundant  opportunity  to  learn,  at  first  hand, 
of  the  advantages  to  a  state  and  community  to  be  free 
from  saloons,  as  off-set  against  the  high  license  state  of 
Missouri,  of  which  he  is  a  native  and  where  he  spent 
all  his  boyhood  clays,  and  also  as  the  son  of  a  Metho- 
dist minister  deeply  interested  in  the  cause,  it  is  but 
natural  that  Lewis  AI.  Simes  should  be  deeply  devoted 
to  prohibition  and  should  have  a  solid  foundation  of  ex- 
perience and  definite  knowledge  on  which  to  write  and 
speak  with  authority. 

Mr.  Simes  was  born  at  Clarence,  Mo.,  July  17,  1889. 
His  common  school  education  was  obtained  at  Kirks- 
ville ;  this  was  followed  by  study  at  the  Missouri  State 
Normal  and  tlien  two  years  in  the  Academic  Department 
of  Missouri  W'eslcyan  at  Cameron.  In  1905  his  parent^ 
moved  to  W'inficld,  Kans.,  and  he  at  once  entered  South- 
west Kansas  College,  irom  which  he  graduated  in   1909. 

In  his  Freshman  year  at  Southwestern  Simes  began 
his  student  oratorical  and  debating  career,  winning  the 
Athenian  oratorical  contest.  During  the  next  two  years 
he  was  a  member  of  the  college  debating  team  which 
both  years  won  against  Ottawa  Ciiiversity.  During  the 
same  time  he  entered  numerous  other  contests.  In  his 
Senior  year  he  first  entered  the  prohibit i(Mi  contests, 
winning  successively  the  local  League,  the  Kansas  state, 
this  year  unusually  strong,  and  the  Central  Interstate 
held  at  Holton.  his  own  state,  where  he  received  four 
firsts  from  six  judges. 

Mr.  Simes'  oration  at  the  \'alparaiso  National  was 
marked  by  all-round  strength.  As  a  practical  public 
speaker  he  was  not  lacking  at  a  single  point.  The  se- 
lection of  subject,  "Prohibition  and  Personal  Liberty," 
was  especially  vital  and  up-to-date ;  his  treatment  thor- 
ough and  free  from  non-essentials  and  temporary  phases 
of  the  problem.     He  was  given  first  rank  in  thought  and 

100 


LEWIS  M.  SIMES, 
Second  Honors,  National  of  1910. 


LEWIS    M.    SIMES  103 

composition  by  the  julges  and  third  in  delivery.  In  the 
final  summing  of  ranks  he  tied  with  Mr.  Elam,  winner 
of  first  place,  in  rank,  and  a  resort  to  the  total  of  grades 
gave  his  530  points  to  Mr.  Elam's  534.  He  was  awarded 
the  second  prize  of  $50  in  gold. 

Mr.  Simes  was  always  keen  as  a  student  and  as  an  all- 
round  college  man.  He  held  such  positions  as  editor 
of  the  college  paper,  treasurer  of  athletic  association, 
etc.  The  first  two  years  following  graduation  was  de- 
voted to  teaching  in  important  high  schools  of  his  state. 
His  later  purpose  is  to  take  a  law  course  and  to  fit  him- 
self especially  to  handle  the  legal  and  political  phases 
of  the  liquor  problem.  It  is  his  purpose  to  make  his  life 
count  definitely  for  the  prohibition  cause. 


Prohibition  and  Personal  Liberty, 

By  Lewis  M.  Simes, 
Southwest  Kansas  College.  '09. 

Second  Honors,  National  Contest  of  1910. 
Central  Interstate  Orator  for  1909. 

(This  oration  received  first  in  thought  and  composition  and  third  in 
delivery  at  the  National  Contest  of  1910.) 

I.  The  powers  of  evil  delight  to  take  for  their  standard 
an  emblem  of  Heaven.  The  Prince  of  Darkness  comes 
"transformed  into  an  angel  of  light."  In  the  facts  of  to- 
day this  truth  is  confirmed.  The  liquor  traffic  hides  be- 
hind the  insignia  of  truth  and  takes  personal  liberty  for 
its  watchword.  Therefore,  I  stand  here  to-night,  not  to 
heap  anathemas  upon  the  drunkard,  not  to  proclaim  the 
economic  evils  of  the  drink  traffic,  great  as  they  are,  but 
to  tear  from  this  shameless  hyiK)criie  of  the  ages  his  thin 
mask  of  righteousness  and  to  proclaim  him  as  he  is. 

II.  Consider  the  status  of  the  li(|uor  traffic  before  the 
law.  More  than  half  a  century  ago  the  saloon  forces 
l)egan  to  make  the  hollow  plea  before  the  courts  of  the 
land  that  prohi])ition  endangered  the  freedom  of  the  in- 
dividual. With  i^retended  patriotism  they  declared  that 
abolition  of  the  saloon  infringed  upon  the  constitutional 
l^rivileges  of  American  citizenship.  The  Supreme  Court 
i)asse(l  a  judgment  upon  these  so]:)histries.  It  swept  them 
awav  like  cobwebs.  Decision  after  decision  was  han<led 
down.  Finally,  in  the  case  of  Crowley  vs.  Christenscn, 
the  Court  delivered  an  opinion,  approved  by  every  mem- 
ber of  the  judicial  tribunal,  and  written  in  such  definite 
and  forceful  terms  that  none  could  misunderstand  it-; 
meaning.  This  decision  declared  that  the  retailing  of 
alcoholic  liciuors  is  not  an  inherent  right  of  citizenship, 
and  that  the  restriction  or  entire  prohibiti(Mi  ni  the  li- 
(|Uor  traffic  does  not  infringe  upon  the  liberty  of  the  in- 
dividual.    P.ut   the   crowning  decisions    rang  ont    in    the 

104 


PROHIBITION    AND    PERSONAL    LIBERTY  105 

court  rooms  of  this  grand  old  state  of  Indiana,  when 
Judges  Artman  and  Christian  boldly  declared  that  the 
mere  licensing  of  such  a  moral  ulcer  as  the  liquor  traffic 
is  immoral,  illegal  and  unconstitutional.  And  God  grant 
that,  not  only  from  Indiana's  district  courts,  but  from 
America's  supreme  tribunal  shall  come  the  words :  From 
henceforth,  O  Rum  King,  you  are  outlawed ;  no  more 
shall  legislatures  license  your  villainies  or  protect  your 
crimes. 

III.  But  some  may  think  that  court  decisions  alone  do 
not  prove  prohibition  consistent  with  personal  freedom. 
To  them  I  would  say, — consider  the  true  nature  of  liberty, 
itself.  What  is  this  freedom  we  so  fondly  cherish?  Is 
it  the  right  to  do  as  one  pleases  regardless  of  others' 
welfare?  Is  it  the  right  to  break  law,  to  injure  property, 
to  destroy  life?  No,  that  is  not  liberty;  that  is  license. 
Except  a  man  remove  beyond  the  confines  of  human  habi- 
tation he  may  not  do  as  he  will.  As  long  as  men  dwell 
together,  so  long  must  each  regard  the  others'  rights. 
What,  then,  is  true  liberty?  True  liberty  is  that  sphere 
of  action  granted  to  the  individual  in  the  exercise  of 
which  he  does  not  infringe  upon  an  equal  sphere  of  ac- 
tion granted  to  others.  Apply  this  principle  to  the  sa- 
loon. True,  we  are  told  the  law  cannot  say  what  a  man 
shall  drink  if  no  one  is  harmed  thereby.  But  the  fact  is 
the  saloon  does  harm  some  one.  It  seizes  the  laborer  in 
its  greedy  clutch  and  filches  his  toil-bought  gold.  It 
crowds  the  vacant  corridors  of  poorhouses,  prisons,  and 
asylums.  It  touches  pure  hearts  with  its  polluted  finger, 
and  behold  blighted  souls.  It  blows  its  poisoned  breath 
upon  innocent  womanhood,  and  behold  dead  hopes  and 
ruined  hearts.  Sin  and  sorrow  follow  in  its  wake.  Death 
and  destruction  marshal  their  cohorts  upon  its  track. 
Then  do  we  infringe  upon  personal  liberty  by  the  pro- 
hibition of  such  a  monster?  The  government  infringes 
upon  no  constitutional  rights  when  it  compels  the  owner 
of  a  powder  mill  to  conduct  his  business  apart  from  other 
buildings ;  the  public  safety  demands  it.  The  law  de- 
prives no  man  of  personal  liberty  when  it  prohibits  public 
lotteries ;  the  public  morality  demands  it.  The  health 
officer   tramples   upon   no   individual   freedom   when   he 


106  WINNING  ORATIONS 

tacks  the  smallpox  placard  upon  the  disease-infected 
home ;  the  public  health  demands  it.  Then  who  dares  to 
affirm  that  the  prohibition  of  the  liquor  business  infringes 
upon  personal  liberty?  For  the  liquor  traffic  is  a  hun- 
dred fold  more  corrupting  than  a  lottery,  a  thousand 
times  more  deadly  than  the  smallpox,  and  ten-thousand 
times  more  dangerous  than  all  the  powder  mills  in 
America. 

IV.  We  have  seen  the  rightful  place  of  the  saloon  be- 
fore the  law.  We  have  tested  its  false  claims  by  the 
true  principles  of  personal  freedom.  One  more  step  re- 
mains. Call  forth  the  witnesses.  Let  us  summon  before 
us  those  countless  thousands  who  have  felt  this  de- 
mon's baleful  hand.  Go  first  to  the  ponil'.ou>:c.  liring 
forth  the  paupers  drink  has  made.  They  will  not  be 
hard  to  find.  For  one  out  of  any  four  of  these  un- 
fortunates owes  his  condition  to  the  saloon.  Open  the 
iron-bound  doors  of  the  asylums.  Lead  forth  those  wild- 
eyed  wrecks  of  humanity  placed  there  for  public  safety. 
One  out  of  every  four  of  these,  also,  comes  to  witness 
before  us  tonight.  Summon  the  patrons  of  the  saloon. 
They  also  witness  to  the  slavery  of  their  taskmaster.  L^n- 
bar  the  jails,  the  prisons  and  the  penitentiaries.  Lead- 
forth  the  murderers  and  anarchists  and  criminals  of  every 
kind.  One  out  of  every  three  stands  1)efore  us  to  de- 
clare :  the  li(|uor  traffic  made  me  what  I  am ;  it  took  my 
liberty;  it  stained  by  hands  with  human  blood.  Some 
there  are  whom  I  could  >ummon  that  cannot  appear. 
For  Death  has  claimed  them.  Rut  if  I  could  call  back 
the  departed  spirits  of  George  C.  Haddock  of  Iowa,  and 
Senator  Carmack  of  Tonnessoe,  those  martyrs  for  the 
cause  of  righteousness  wcnild  stand  here  to  say:  The 
li(|uor  traffic  aimed  the  weapon  that  took  my  life.  Is 
not  this  evidence  enough?  See  this  vast  array  of  wit- 
nesses who  tell  of  the  saloon  power's  thraldom  and 
crime.  Does  it  look  as  if  the  monster  is  a  defender  of 
liberty?  Is  it  likely  that  the  creator  of  criminals  would 
defend  the  loftiest  principles  of  our  body  politic?  No.  a 
thousand  times  no.  When  its  own  votaries  declare  it  to  be 
a  slaveholder,  when  ten-thousand  witnesses  proclaim  it 
an   anarchist,   and   when   the  departed   dead  brand   it   a 


PROHIBITION   AND   PERSONAL   LIBERTY  107 

defiant  murderer,  it  is  time  for  the  jury  of  American  pub- 
lic opinion  to  pronounce  the  verdict  that  this  thing  shall 
die. 

V.  But  still  the  liquor  dealer  makes  his  hollow  brazen 
appeal.  Still  he  blasphemes  the  sacred  cause  for  which 
our  forefathers  shed  their  blood.  I  have  seen  the  sacred 
words  of  Holy  Writ  flaunted  across  the  pages  of  a  li- 
quor dealer's  paper.  I  have  seen  the  name  of  Frances 
W'illard  gracing  the  arguments  of  a  liquor  dealer's  plea. 
Aye,  I  have  seen  the  actiois  of  the  Saviour  of  mankind 
interpreted  as  hostile  to  prohibition.  And  when  I  hear  the 
liquor  men  boast  of  love  for  liberty,  as  they  did  but  re- 
cently in  Chicago,  when  I  read  of  their  so-called  organi- 
zations of  freedom,  like  the  Personal  Liberty  League  of 
Southern  Illinois,  when  I  face  these  facts,  I  am  led  to 
Exclaim  as  did  Madame  Roland,  going  to  her  execution, 
"O  Liberty,  what  crimes  are  committed  in  thy  name!" 

VL  Friends  of  true  liberty,  we  must  still  fight  the  de- 
fenders of  false  freedom.  Every  atom  of  energy — every 
power  that  we  possess  must  be  spent  for  the  conflict. 
At  the  battle  of  Trafalgar,  when  the  sea  powers  of 
France  and  England  were  marshalled  against  each  other, 
Lord  Nelson  issued  this  famous  proclamation,  ''Eng- 
land expects  every  man  do  to  his  duty."  Today  the  de- 
fenders of  true  and  false  liberty  are  drawn  up  in  battle 
array.  Hear  the  command  of  your  leader,  O  friend  of 
prohibition :  the  King  of  Heaven  expects  every  man  to 
do  his  duty.  Strike  for  the  land  you  love.  Strike  for 
the  untarnished  name  of  American  manhood.  Strike  for 
the  unsullied  purity  of  American  womanhood.  Strike  for 
the  sacred  altars  of  the  American  home.  Strike  for  the 
true  liberty  that  was  wrought  in  the  battle  of  stains  of 
Concord  and  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill.  In  the  name 
of  Almighty  God,  strike  .till  the  Rum  King  turns  white 
with  fear ;  till  his  cringing  henchmen  flee.  Strike  till 
the  liquor  traffic  falls  and  dies.  And  throughout  the 
land  there  shall  be  no  more  a  drunkard  and  no  more  a 
legalized  saloon.  Then,  in  the  light  of  a  larger  liberty, 
freed  from  the  galling  bondage  of  the  tyrannical  slave- 
holder of  the  ages,  we  shall  write  in  letters  of  living 
light :  America  is  free — America  is  free ! 


Charles  Scroggin  Pierce. 

Final  honors  in  the  great  national  oratorical  contest  of 
1908,  held  at  Memorial  Hall,  Columbus,  Ohio,  were  won 
by  the  orator  from  the  South — Mr.  Charles  S.  Pierce, 
representing  the  Central  Interstate  section  and  the  state 
of  Texas. 

Mr.  Pierce  is  a  native  of  the  state  for  which  he  won 
national  honors,  having  spent  his  boyhood  there  on  a  farm. 
Mis  early  education  consisted  of  winters  in  the  rural 
school  until  he  was  eighteen  years  old,  when  he  entered 
East  Texas  Baptist  Institute  at  Rusk.  Here  he  spent 
two  and  one-half  years.  At  this  school  he  first  took  an 
interest  in  speaking  and  won  his  first  prize,  the  Smith 
medal. 

After  teaching  country  school  two  vears  he  registered 
at  Howard  Payne  College,  whore  he  graduated  in  the 
spring  of  V)07,  and  in  the  following  fall  entered  l^iaylor 
University,  at  Waco,  where  he  gets  his  A.  B.  degree  in 
the  spring  of  VW. 

Charles  S.  Pierce,  during  his  preparatory,  college  and 
university  days,  never  lost  an  oratorical  contest,  and  he 
entered  many  of  them.  At  Howard  Payne  in  1906  he 
won  the  Dr.  \V.  B.  McFarland  Medal  over  six  competi- 
tors. In  the  spring  of  1^)07  he  spoke  for  the  college  in  the 
West  Texas  Oratorical  Association.  The  same  year  he 
represented  the  League  in  the  Texas  State  Intercollegiate 
Prohibition  Contest  at.  Creenville,  winning  first  honors 
and  a  cash  prize  of  $60.00  over  eight  speakers,  some  of 
them  coming  from  schools  of  higher  rank.  This  was  the 
first  time  that  Texas  sent  a  representative  to  the  Central 
Interstate,  held  that  year  at  Wichita.  Kansas,  and  its 
advent  was  marked  by  a  decisive  victory  for  the  newly 
admitted  state.  With  the  same  oration  Mr.  Pierce  spoke 
in  the  National  a  vear  later,  winninc:  first  place  and  the 
prize  of  $100.00. 

The  1908  National  occurred  on  the  night  previous  to 
the  National  Convention  of  the  Prohibition  Party  and  was 

108 


CHARLES  SCROGGIN  PIERCE, 
Highest  Honors,  National  of  1908. 


CHARLES    SCROGGIN    PIERCE  111 

attended  largely  by  delegates  to  that  convention.  It  was 
exceedingly  enthusiastic  from  start  to  finish,  the  orators 
being  interrupted  by  applause  often  prolonged  or  accom- 
panied by  yells,  exactly  one  hundred  times.  Mr.  Pierce 
handled  this  vast  audience  with  absolute  control  and  self- 
possession.  But  his  strongest  point  was  in  thought, 
where  he  won  first  rank;  in  delivery  he  tied  with  Mr. 
Pennington,  who  was  awarded  second  honors.  So  win- 
ning was  his  oration  that  he  was  selected,  next  day,  by 
the  Texas  state  delegation  to  place  in  nomination,  before 
the  national  convention,  the  name  of  their  candidate  for 
President  of  the  United  States.  The  speech  he  made  in 
this  position,  so  trying  to  a  young  man,  was  worthy  of 
the  Intercollegiate  honors  he  had  won  in  the  contest. 

For  three  years  Pierce  was  an  active  worker  in  the 
student  prohibition  movement  of  Texas,  being  one  of  the 
first  to  join  when  it  was  launched  in  Howard  Payne,  and 
serving  as  State  Secretary  in  1907-8.  He  is  thoroughly 
interested  in  prohibition  both  as  a  member  of  the  Prohi- 
bition party  and  locally  for  his  own  state. 

During  his  college  days  he  has  preached  almost  contin- 
uously, in  fact  making  his  way  through  school  by  so  do- 
ing. His  pastorates  have  been  marked  by  fine  success 
and  he  has  bright  prospects  as  a  preacher.  From  this 
vantage  point  he  expects  to  make  his  life  count  for  the 
banishment  of  the  liquor  traffic. 


The  Price  of  Victory 

By  Charles  S.  Pierce. 
Howard  Payne.   07;  Baylor,  '09. 

First  Honors.  National  Contest  of  1908. 
Central  Interstate  Orator  for  1907. 

(This  oration  won  first  in  thought  and  composition  and  tieil  for  first  in 
delivery.) 

I. 

Every  victory  must  be  bought.  This  is  the  invariable 
rule  in  the  market-place  of  the  world's  affairs.  Every 
achievement  of  the  past  has  been  purchased  with  its  price. 
None  of  the  great  movements  that  have  swept  the  world 
God-ward,  have  succeeded  until  their  advocates  paid  the 
price  of  victor} .  And  ( iod  has  put  a  high  price  upon 
things  of  great  worth  and  the  same  i)rice  to  all  men  and 
to  all  ages,  lie  knows  no  discounts.  He  holds  no  bar- 
gain sales.  Every  age  has  jjaid  in  full  for  its  progress. 
Great  principles  do  not  mold  the  world's  thought  and 
character  while  they  lie  in  Ciod's  storehouse.  They  must 
become  living  fire  in  the  hearts  of  their  advocates. 
"Truth  is  truest  when  burning." 

For  four  centuries  no  Si)artan  ever  left  a  battlefield 
unless  he  carried  home  his  shield  victorious,  or  was 
carried  away  dead  upon  it.  He  ])aid  the  price  of  military 
glory,  and  got  it. 

Christianity  cont|uerc(l  the  Roman  world  because  it  was 
not  afraid  of  the  price,  in  the  beginning  it  was  the  re- 
ligion of  twelve  Jewish  fishermen  :  within  three  centuries 
it  had  attained  the  throne  <~>f  the  Cresars ;  its  symbol,  the 
cross,  was  carried  above  the  eagles  at  the  head  of  the 
army,  and  its  followers  constituted  the  most  active,  virile, 
and  powerful  organization  in  the  civilized  world. 

Switzerland  is  free,  but  the  story  of  her  struggles  is 
only  the  old  story  of  liberty  bought  with  a  price.  From 
the  mythical  days  of  William  Tell  until  the  immorta' 
victories  at  Margarten  Pass  and  Sempach,  tlie  Swiss  laid 

112 


THE    PRICE    OF    VICTORY  113 

themselves  on  the  altar  of  their  country's  Hberty.  At 
Sempach,  when  all  other  means  had  failed  to  break  the 
dense  line  of  Austrian  spears,  Arnold  von  Winkelried 
gathered  as  many  into  his  bosom  as  his  long  arms  could 
reach,  and  bearing  them  to  the  ground,  cried  out  to  his 
comrades :    "I  give  myself  to  make  a  way  for  you." 

Science  is  now  free  to  express  her  thoughts  because 
her  advocates  in  the  past  sat  in  stocks  and  lay  in  prisons. 
Socrates  taught  his  last  lesson  in  prison  and  drank  the 
fatal  poison ;  Locke  wrote  his  immortal  teachings  as  an 
exile  in  a  Dutch  garret.  Roger  Bacon  was  compelled 
to  hide  away  in  manuscripts  his  more  advanced  ideas; 
notwithstanding  this,  he  spent  fourteen  years  in  prison, 
because  he  was  too  great  for  the  light  of  his  day.  Galileo, 
old,  blind,  and  forsaken !  What  great  thoughts  must  have 
kept  him  company  through  the  long  months  in  prison ! 
Thomas  More  died  for  opinion's  sake,  that  coming  gen- 
erations might  live  in  his  land  of  Utopia  where  opinion 
is  free.  The  prison  and  the  stake  of  the  past  have  paid 
for  the  freedom  of  the  present.  Thus, 
"At  the  cost  of  life  new  truths  are  taught ; 

Hate  kills  the  thinker  but  it  can  not  kill  the  thought." 

While  the  student  of  affairs  watches  freedom  of  con- 
science, a  century  old  in  America,  now  winning  the  last 
foothold  of  its  enemy  in  the  English  Parliament,  the 
French  Chamber,  and  the  Spanish  Cortez,  let  him  not  for- 
get that  this  present  broad  daylight  of  free  conscience 
was  preceded  by  a  long  night  of  religious  conformity, 
lighted  only  by  fagot  fires.  The  veriest  novice  in  the 
philosophy  of  history  is  aware  that  without  the  shedding 
of  blood  there  is  no  freedom.  We  follow  the  lead  of  our 
consciences  to-day  without  pay  or  penalty,  because  the 
men  of  other  days  from  John  Huss  to  Roger'  Williams, 
followed  theirs  at  the  price  of  their  lives.  Religious  per- 
secution scattered  the  ashes  of  Wyclif  on  the  Severn, 
Jerome  on  the  Danube,  and  Savanarola  on  the  Arno,  but 
its  own  lifeless  body  rests  beneath  an  ocean  of  infamy. 

There  is  no  worth  without  work,  there  is  no  suc- 
cess without  preparation,  there  is  no  victory  without 
its  price.  History  is  eloquent  with  this  law,  it  is 
written  all  over  the  life  of  man  and  of  movements ;  and 


114  WINNING   ORATIONS 

the  sooner  the  enemies  of  the  Hquor  traffic  comprehend 
its  workings  and  gird  themselves  to  go  into  the  field  and 
pay  the  full  price  of  victory,  the  sooner  will  the  clock  of 
man's  progress  strike  the  hour  of  another  epoch  in  the 
world's  approach  toward  God. 

I  have  assumed  that  the  destruction  of  the  liquor  trade 
will  be  a  step  forward,  that  this  victory  is  attainable,  and 
that  in  the  not  distant  future.  These  three  propositions 
many  confess  with  their  \\\)>,  and  many  more  believe  in 
their  hearts. 

11. 

And  what  is  this  victory  over  the  licjuor  traffic?  Not 
local  option,  a  system  by  which  the  larger  political  unit 
notifies  the  lesser  one  that  it  is  to  have  the  legal,  political 
and  moral  right  to  do  wrong  if  it  so  choose.  Xo  clear- 
headed, comprehending  citizen  takes  local  option  to  be  the 
"Promised  Land,"  but  only  that  1  laran  wherein  we, 
Abraham-like,  tarry  till  our  father,  Terah,  die. 

Nor  that  other  hypocritical  fallacy  called  high  license, 
wherein  the  government,  taking  a  share  of  the  profits, 
presumes  to  respectableize,  legalize,  civilize,  and  tame  the 
thing,  permitting  it  to  look  up  into  our  faces  and  grunt, 
"I  am  your  ofTspring."  It  is  a  lie.  The  thing  is  none 
of  our  blood.  Man  is  from  (lod;  this  tiling  is  from  the 
pit,  "half  louse  and  half  devil."  It  is  only  here  on  suf- 
ferance and  nuist  be  killed.  1  am  not  discussing  the 
making  of  a  truce,  or  the  compen.sation  in  a  com- 
promise, but  the  i)rice  of  a  victory,  thorough,  ter- 
rible to  the  vanquished  and  eternal.  Such  a  victory  can 
never  be  until  the  constitutions,  state  and  federal,  and  the 
statutes  througlK^ut  our  land  shall  point  the  finger  of 
scorn  at  the  thing,  and  hiss  it  from  the  land  as  an  (nUlaw 
and  a  curse.  It  can  never  be  until  the  offices  of  our  land, 
county,  state  and  national,  shall  be  in  the  possession  of  a 
political  party,  whose  palm  has  not  itched  for  liquor  votes, 
whose  fingers  have  handled  no  campaign  funds  from  the 
saloonkeeper's  till,  whose  knees  have  not  bent  and  whose 
tongue  has  not  palavered  for  the  liquor  dealer's  influence 
on  election  day — a  p(^litical  jiarty  that  owes  the  liquor 
business  nothing  but  eternal  enmity,  and  stands  ready  to 
discharge  the  debt.     This  and  no  less,  is  our  victory — 


THE   PRICE   OF   VICTORY  115 

the  total  and  final  separation  of  the  government  from  the 
liquor  trade,  and  more,  the  relentless  hostility  of  the  gov- 
ernment toward  the  liquor  traffic. 

TIL 
There  are  those  who  sit  aside  in  a  corner  and  wonder 
when  the  final  attack  is  to  be  made  on  the  liquor  forces. 
Let  them  awake  and  come  upon  the  towers,  and  see  that 
the  fight  is  now  on  to  the  finish.  The  Prohibitionists  are 
on  the  firing  line.  They  have  said  in  their  hearts:  **As 
for  tarifif  and  expansion,  and  government  ownership  and 
gold,  I  know  not,  but  this  I  do  know,  that  the  liquor 
traffic  ought  to  die."  And  they  stand  ready  to  give  and 
to  take  blow  for  blow.  They  are  not  conscripts,  they 
volunteered;  they  are  not  mercenaries,  they  joined  for 
the  cause's  sake ;  they  are  not  thirty-day  men,  they 
counted  the  cost  and  enhsted  for  life.  Many  shall  fall 
like  Dow,  and  Gough,  and  Finch,  and  Frances  Willard 
with  their  faces  to  the  foe  and  with  the  dew  and  rust 
of  glory  on  their  unsheathed  swords,  but  no  true  Prohibi- 
tionist wall  ever  come  home  from  the  field,  or  call  for  a 
furlough,  or  a  truce,  or  rest,  or  peace  till  the  victory  is 
won.  If  you  but  look  through  the  smoke  of  battle  you 
can  see  the  enemy  on  the  retreat.  Once  he  held  the  trench 
of  respectability,  the  trench  of  morality,  and  the  trench 
of  usefulness.  To-day  he  holds  none  of  these;  he  has 
but  one  line  of  defense  left,  his  political  power,  and  this 
is  being  viciouslv  assaulted. 

When  shall  we  wan?  It  may  be  said  that  public  senti- 
ment is  not  yet  ready  for  a  Prohibition  law  and  a  Pro- 
hibition party.  Well  and  good !  There  can  be  no  reason- 
able objection  urged  against  the  effort  to  make  public 
sentiment  ready.  Does  any  one  fear  that  a  party  which 
must  contend  for  every  foot  of  its  ground  will  come  into 
power  before  public  sentiment  is  ready?  The  Prohibi- 
tionist is  not  striving  that  his  plea  become  law  before  his 
country  is  ready,  but  that  the  country  may  be  made  ready. 
And  day  by  day  the  steady  undertow  of  the  truth  swings 
the  country  farther  and  farther  toward  Prohibition.  There 
is  no  rush  of  waters,  no  swish  of  the  currents,  no  foam, 


116  WINNING  ORATIONS 

no  gale ;  just  the  slow  move  of  the  mighty  waters,  regular, 
continuous,  sure. 

V. 
And  there  is  no  abatement  in  the  call  for  men.  From 
the  front  comes  the  cry  for  more  soldiers.  The  "Old 
Guard"  are  falling  one  by  one,  they  have  saluted  the  flag 
for  the  last  time,  they  rest  in  the  trenches,  their  weapons 
wait  for  younger  hands.  Even  the  sword  of  the  Lord 
has  a  human  hilt.  <  Take  it  up  and  go  forward.  Its  very 
steel  will  give  strength  to  the  arm.  The  world's  battles 
are  not  all  won.  The  days  of  faith  and  courage  and  the 
times  that  try  men's  souls  are  not  all  past.  God  hath  not 
let  us  fall  on  insipid  days,  when  the  clear  call  to  a  higher 
duty  does  not  fall  on  human  ears.  God  is  not  idle !  God 
is  not  dead !  Put  }  our  ear  down  close  to  His  earth,  and 
hear  the  tramp  of  thousands  of  feet  as  the  young  men 
of  America  march  to  their  places  in  the  ranks.  Some- 
times we  see  no  friendly  face,  we  seem  to  be  lone  skir- 
mishers on  a  far-flung  battle-line,  but  our  comrades  are 
there  in  the  smoke  and  heat  and  dust.  Sometimes  we  can 
not  see  even  our  Great  Commander's  face :  the  very 
smoke  of  victory  may  hide  Him,  but  He  is  there.  He 
stands  within  the  shadow  and  His  reward  is  with  Him. 
He  has  the  victory  in  His  hands  but  He  will  not  give  it 
to  the  half-hearted.  It  is  ours  for  the  price — the  full, 
unstinted  and  complete  price  of  victory. 


Seci^nd    lltmors,   National  nf   1908. 


Levi  T.  Pennington. 

Casting  his  first  vote  for  prohibition  in  a  county  where 
he  was  the  only  one  who  voted  that  way,  and  speaking 
and  writing  for  the  cause  at  odd  times  previous  to  his 
college  days,  Mr.  Levi  T.  Pennington  entered  the  con- 
tests and  won  his  national  honors  because  his  heart  and 
hand  were  both  deeply  in  sympathy  with  his  voice  and 
pen. 

The  record  of  his  pre-college  days  is  one  of  hard  work 
and  earnest  struggle  for  advancement.  Mr.  Pennington 
is  a  native  of  Indiana,  born  at  Amo,  August  29,  1875. 
His  common  school  education  was  in  the  district  schools 
of  the  frontier  section  of  northern  Michigan.  Working 
his  own  way  through  he  graduated  successively  from 
High  Schools  of  Manton  and  IVaverse  City.  Later  he 
carried  on  correspondence  work  with  Earlham  College, 
the  University  of  Chicago  and  Armour  Institute  of 
Sacred  Literature. 

During  this  time  he  was  engaged  in  teaching  school 
and  in  newspaper  work,  advancing,  in  the  latter,  from 
street  man  to  news  editorship.  In  1904  the  decision  to 
enter  the  ministry  was  made  and  after  spending  two 
years  in  active  service  he  entered  Earlham  College,  from 
which  he  received  his  degree  in  191O0 

With  great  physical  resources  and  a  most  genial  nature 
Pennington  was  enabled  to  carry  on  a  tremendous 
amount  of  work,  and  get  much  of  the  all-round  student 
life  at  the  same  time.  One  year,  with  but  four  days  per 
week  available  for  study,  he  made  more  credits  than  any 
other  man  in  school  and  only  once  did  he  receive  a  grade 
lower  than  A.  He  wrote  for  the  ''Earlhamite,"  worked 
in  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  won  honors  in  held  athletics  raising 
the  college  records,  and  preached  to  a  large  congrega- 
tion as  pastor  in  the  Friend's  church.  Besides  this  he 
was  a  constant  prohibition  worker,  having  made  speeches 
for  the  cause  since  he  was  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  is 

119 


120  WINNING   ORATIONS 

a  writer  for  the  magazines,  chiefly  in  fiction,  deahng 
with  our-door  hfe,  fishing,  football,  and  the  lumber 
woods. 

The  prohibition  contests  of  the  spring  of  1908  were 
the  first  contests  he  ever  entered.  His  successes  followed 
each  other  without  break  through  the  local  try  out,  the 
Indiana  state,  the  Eastern  Interstate  at  Saratoga  Springs, 
N.  Y.,  and  then  second  place  in  the  great  National  at 
Columbus.  Ohio,  July  14. 

In  his  Senior  year  Mr.  Pennington  served  twice  on  the 
debating  team  with  other  colleges,  addressed  the  State 
Prohibition  Convention,  was  nominated  for  Congress, 
made  several  high  school  comiuencement  addresses,  won 
the  Haverford  Scholarship,  annually  aw'arded  by  Earl- 
ham  and  worth  $400,  and,  at  the  same  time  won  first 
place  in  the  (regular)  Indiana  State  Oratorical  Contest 
and  in  the  Interstate  Oratorical  Association. 

His  life  work  is  that  of  the  ministry  combined  with 
educational  work.  He  regards  it  as  a  chief  life-purpose 
to  be  prominent  in  the  fight  to  kill  the  saloon,  the  brewery 
and  the  distiller} ,  and  not  merely  to  cripple  them. 


The  New  Patriotism. 

By  Levi  T.  Pennington, 
Earlham  College,  '10. 

Second  Honors,  National  Contest  of  1908. 
Eastern  Interstate  Orator  for  1908. 

The  constitution  of  the  United  States  was  framed  "to 
establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquility,  promote  the 
general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to 
ourselves  and  our  posterity."  This  is  the  ideal  that  we 
have  set  for  ourselves,  and  by  which  we  judge  an  institu- 
tion. This  is  the  standard  by  which  we  are  now  measur- 
ing the  American  saloon. 

All  seem  to  admit  that  the  saloon  is  an  evil  institution. 
No  worthy  voice  is  ever  raised  in  its  defense.  That  it  is 
our  country's  enemy  is  evident  to  any  one  who  in  the 
most  casual  way  observes  its  work  among  us.  Worse 
than  foreign  invasion,  more  deadly  than  civil  strife,  more 
despicable  than  treason,  because  combining  the  worst  of 
all  these  three,  the  saloon  has  carried  on  its  work  of 
destruction. 

It  attacks  first  the  individual,  the  very  foundation  of 
all  national  power.  It  makes  havoc  of  this,  the  Creator's 
best  work,  blighting  the  memory,  weakening  the  will, 
paralyzing  the  sense  of  duty,  searing  the  conscience. 

Not  stopping  with  the  individual,  the  saloon  carries  its 
warfare  into  the  home.  The  father  is  corrupted,  his 
manhood  overthrown,  his  fidelity  destroyed.  The  mother 
has  her  hopes  blighted,  her  happiness  stolen,  her  heart 
broken.  The  children  are  robbed  of  their  birthright,  poi- 
soned before  their  birth,  foredoomed  to  disease ;  fortu- 
nate if  they  but  enter  the  world  with  a  cry  of  protest, 
wail  out  a  few  brief  days  and  sob  their  little  lives  away. 

The  saloon  is  absolutely  antagonistic  to  the  school. 
While  the  noble  army  of  teachers  are  instilling  into  the 
minds  of  the  young  the  highest  ideals  of  lofty  endeavor 
and  exalted  patriotism,  the  saloon  is  conducting  its  great 

121 


122  WINNING    ORATIONS 

rival  school  of  vice  and  crime.  While  our  bovs  and  girls 
are  learning  to  despise  the  treason  of  Arnold,  would  that 
they  might  learn  to  hate  that  worse  than  traitor,  the 
saloon.  There  is  not,  in  all  its  bloody  history,  the  record 
of  a  single  worthy  act.  It  has  always  been  on  the  side  of 
the  enemy,  and  leading  the  assault. 

The  saloon  attacks  the  state.  Not  only  does  it  under- 
mine the  character  of  the  individual  citizen,  but  it  cor- 
rupts politics,  controls  elections,  "stuffs"  ballot-boxes, 
falsifies  returns,  and  with  a  high  hand  sweeps  down  its 
enemies  and  exalts  its  friends.  Wherever  there  is  elec- 
toral corruption,  look  to  the  saloon  for  the  center  of  it. 
Wherever  lynching  sets  at  defiance  the  law  of  the  land, 
look  for  its  explanation  in  a  drunken  fiend  hunted  down 
by  a  drunken  mob.  The  saloon  is  responsible  for  both 
crimes.  At  every  point  the  saloon  attacks  the  state.  At 
every  point  its  interests  are  antagonistic  to  the  public  in- 
terests. Uoth  cannot  survive.  One  must  eventuall}-  be 
destroyed. 

The  church  itself,  that  institution  which  furnishes  al- 
ways the  state's  best  guarantee  of  permanence,  is  not  free 
from  the  attacks  of  this  enemy.  He  lays  his  polluted 
hand  upon  the  altar  of  the  Most  High.  He  insolently 
demands  that  the  messengers  of  the  Almighty  leave  liim 
at  peace,  to  carry  on  his  work  of  destruction  unhindered 
And  while  the  church  is  trying  to  make  men  god-like, 
and  lift  them  heavenward,  the  saloon  snatches  them  from 
the  verv  horns  of  the  altar,  and  drags  them  to  destruc- 
tion. 

Thus  does  this  institution  dethrone  justice,  destroy 
domestic  tranquility,  overthrow  the  common  defense,  and 
bring  into  bondage  those  to  whom  the  constitution  guar- 
antees liberty.  These  attacks  upon  our  most  sacred  insti- 
tutions are  so  familiar  to  us  that  we  have  almost  ceased 
to  recognize  them.  Shall  they  continue?  Shall  we  suffer 
this  enemy  to  buy  us  off  with  a  few  paltry  dollars  of 
license  fee,  and  permit  him  to  carr>'  on.  unchecked,  his 
deadly  warfare  against  all  that  America  holds  dear? 

We  shall  have  taken  a  long  step  toward  the  solution 
of  this  (iuesti(Mi  when  we  have  recognized  it  as  a  political 
problem.    It  might  be  fortunate  if  we  could  get  the  saloon 


THE    NEW    PATRIOTISM  123 

into  the  realm  of  philosophy  or  religion  or  science ;  but 
the  saloon  is  in  politics,  intrenched  in  protecting  laws, 
and  into  the  political  arena  we  must  go  if  we  expect  ever 
to  meet  and  overcome  it. 

For  this  question  various  attempts  at  solution  have  been 
offered.  There  was  a  time  when  it  was  not  considered  a 
serious  problem.  That  time  has  gone  forever,  and  the 
widespread  interest  in  the  question  of  the  saloon  is  the 
harbinger  of  the  complete  destruction  of  the  institution. 

In  other  realms  we  have  grown  wiser  than  to  treat 
merely  the  symptoms  of  disease.  If  there  were  an  epi- 
demic of  typhoid  fever  in  this  city  the  authorities  would 
not  devote  all  their  energies  to  hospital  treatment,  but 
would  seek  to  find  the  cause  of  the  disease  and  to  destroy 
the  source  of  contagion,  to  stop  the  flow  of  typhoid  germs 
through  the  sewer  into  the  water  supply.  But  in  deal- 
ing with  the  saloon,  we  have  been  less  wise.  We  have 
sought  to  alleviate  the  symptoms  of  our  social  diseases, 
while  permitting  the  sewer  that  poisons  the  fountains  of 
our  national  life  to  continue  pouring  in  its  tide.  We  seek 
to  alleviate  poverty,  while  we  provide  that  the  producers 
of  our  wealth  may  have  the  opportunity  to  spend  a  bil- 
lion dollars  annually  over  the  licensed  bar.  We  estab- 
lish homes  for  the  feeble-minded,  while  the  children  of 
drunken  parents  continue  to  fill  them.  W'e  care  for  the 
lunatics,  but  allow  the  indulgence  in  the  use  of  intoxicants 
to  destroy  the  best  minds  the  land  possesses.  We  seek 
to  prevent  crime,  while  liquor  incites  to  arson,  robbery, 
incest,  murder. 

In  the  past,  when  the  cause  of  the  social  disease  from 
which  we  suffer  has  been  recognized,  how  have  we  dealt 
with  it  ?  We  shorten  the  hours  that  the  saloon  may  legally 
do  business, — in  other  words  we  will  not  let  the  sewer 
pour  in  its  poison  between  the  hours  of  11  p.  m.  and  6 
a.  m.,  but  it  discharges  all  the  surplus  during  the  other 
seventeen  hours.  We  have  laws  against  selling  liquor  to 
minors — as  if  alcohol  ceased  to  be  a  poison  when  a  man 
reached  his  majority.  We  provide  local  option,  as  if 
drunkenness  were  only  a  local  curse.  We  give  the  privi- 
lege of  remonstrance — and  expect  a  man  to  jeopardize 
his  business  and  endanger  his  life  to  support  it. 


124 


WINNING   ORATIONS 


Is  It  not  time  that  we  awake  to  our  follv  ?  Surely  this 
institution  has  existed  long  enough.  It  is  time  to  st6p  the 
mouth  of  .this  poison-bearing  sewer,  and  to  cleanse  the 
old  political  and  social  cess-pools.  There  is  but  one  rea- 
sonable way  to  deal  with  the  saloon.  It  should  be  forever 
outlawed. 

This  is  a  stupendous  task,  one  worth\-  the  effort^  of  our 
bravest  and  our  best.  It  is  an  issue  that  affects  billions 
of  treasure  and  millions  of  lives.  The  magnitude  of  it 
staggers  paltr>-  minds.  \\>  must  have  men  of  dauntless 
courage  and  with  cncs  that  see  afar.  And  shall  we  not 
find  them  t  Our  fathers  resisted  their  countrv's  enemies 
to  blood  and  death.  Are  there  no  more  patriots,  no 
worthy  sons  of  the  heroes  of  Bunker  Hill  and  \\illey 
torge?  Where  are  the  children  of  the  men  who  stormed 
Mission  Ridge  with  Grant,  or  Marched  down  with  Sher- 
man from  Atlanta  to  the  sea?  Whore  are  the  sons  of  those 
heroes  who  died  in  [Jbby  and  loathsome  Andersonville 
that  their  country  might  survive  ?  There  is  a  call  to  arms 
and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  it  is  being  heard.  It 
IS  a  call  to  higher  patriotosm  than  that  of  our  revolution- 
ary sires,  to  deeper  devotion  than  fired  the  hearts  of  our 
fathers  who  died  at  Shiloh  and  the  wilderness,  to  more 
bitter  conflicts  but  to  grander  vict«)ries  than  .\ntietam  and 
(lettysburg.  The  warfare  to  which  our  country  calls 
to-day  is  one  in  which  the  ability  of  Washington,  the 
devotion  of  Uncoln  and  the  persistencv  of  (irant  must  be 
united  with  the  strength  of  Carrison. 'the  faith  of  Whit- 
tier,  the  courage  of  Phillips. 

And  the  recruits  are  coming.  Never  before  was  such 
terror  in  the  hearts  of  our  country's  foes.  Georgia's  bat- 
tle-field has  been  swejit  by  the  forces  of  our  allies.  Okla- 
homa, Alabama  and  Mississippi  have  joined  the  victorious 
ranks.  .\nd  everywhere,  leading  on  the  forces,  is  that 
band  of  j)atri(^ts  who  have  set  their  faces  like  Hint  against 
the  saloon,  and  will  not  rest  till  the  institution  is  forever 
destroyed. 

In  one  of  Xapoleon's  battles  jiis  f(^rces  were  being  cut 
to  pieces  and  he  ordered  his  drummer  boy  to  beat  a  re- 
treat. "Sire,"  said  the  lad,  "1  do  not  know  how  to  beat 
a  retreat,  but   T  can  beat  a  charge.     Sire,   I  can  beat  a 


THE   NEW   PATRIOTISM  125 

charge  that  will  raise  the  dead !"  He  beat  the  charge,  the 
Flower  of  France  responded,  and  the  victory  was  won. 
The  Prohibitionists  do  not  know  how  to  beat  a  retreat. 
But  thev  are  beating  the  charge.  Everywhere  you  can 
hear  the  long  roll.  Oh,  patriots  of  America,  fall  in !  Fall 
in! 


Archie   JL.  Ryan. 

Archie  L.  Ryan,  the  winner  of  the  Second  National 
Contest,  1906,  is  from  the  prohibition  state  of  Kansas, 
where  experience  and  education  both  taught  him  the 
vaUie  of  "Prohibition  as  a  Civic  Necessity,"  the  topic 
upon  which  he  wrote  and  spoke  so  successfully. 

He  graduated  from  Baker  University,  at  Baldwin, 
Kansas,  June,  1906.  Baker  already  had  quite  a  reputa- 
tion for  oratory,  having  won  fourteen  out  of  seventeen 
intercollegiate  debates  and  seven  out  of  fifteen  state 
oratorical  contests ;  then  Mr.  Ryan  entered  the  prohibi- 
tion series  of  intercollegiate  oratorical  meets  and  won 
for  it  and  his  state  the  highest  student  oratorical  honors 
of  the  country  within  a  few  days  after  receiving  his 
(li])loma. 

Mr.  Ryan  began  his  oratorical  career  during  his  Junior 
year  by  taking  third  place  in  the  Baker  faculty  prize 
contest,  in  which  there  were  eleven  entries.  The  next 
fall  he  came  up  one  step,  receiving  second  out  of  thirteen 
contestants  in  the  local,  tlie  winner  of  which  represented 
I'aker  in  the  regular  Kansas  State  Contest,  .\bout  the 
same  time  he  delivered  a  chapel  oration  on  "Prohibi- 
tion, A  Civic  Necessity,"  which  became  the  basis  of  his 
later  winning  oration  upon  that  topic. 

Taking  up  the  prohibition  subject,  he  threw  his  whole 
soul  as  well  as  his  previous  oratorical  experience  into  it 
and  went  in  to  win.  Mrst,  victory  came  in  the  Local 
League  contest  in  March.  PX)6.  in  which  there  were 
eight  entries.  In  April  he  entered  the  State  Contest  at 
Holton,  Kansas,  receiving  three  firsts  on  thought  and 
composition  and  two  firsts  on  delivery.  The  next  step 
was  equally  noteworthy,  three  firsts  and  two  seconds  at 
the  Central  Interstate  at  Winnebago,  Minn.,  to  which  six 
states  sent  their  best  student  speakers. 

The  National  Contest  of  the  .\ssociation  in  L>06  was 
held  at  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  June  22,  in  the  l^niversity 
of    Minnesota    .\rmory.      Six   orators    represented    East, 

126 


ARCHIE  L.  RYAN, 
Highest  Honors,   National  of  1906. 


ARCHIE    L.    RYAN  129 

Central  and  Western  Interstate  Sections.  Here  it  was 
again  Mr.  Ryan's  all-around  good  delivery,  but  with  his 
leading  strength  upon  thought  and  composition,  that  gave 
him  his  high  position.  The  contest  was  very  close,  four 
orators  receiving  one  first  each  and  only  one  as  many  as 
two  firsts. 

Mr.  Ryan  became  a  worker  in  the  Prohibition  League 
at  Baker  in  1904  and  served  as  its  president,  bringing  it 
right  to  the  front  as  a  student  enterprise.  He  has  been 
a  prominent  Y.  M.  C.  A.  worker,  serving  in  many  im- 
portant positions  and  was  twice  sent  to  the  Lake  Geneva 
Summer  Conference.  During  his  student  days  he  was 
an  all-around  college  man,  a  lover  of  athletics,  a  leader 
in  social  and  religious  circles  and  prominent  in  literary 
and  scholastic  attainments  and  a  member  of  the  Athen- 
ian Literary  Society  and  Kappa  Sigma  Fraternity. 

For  one  year  Mr.  Ryan  served  his  Alma  Mater  as 
General  Secretary  in  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, then  went  out  as  Field  Secretary  for  the  Univer- 
sity. His  life  work  is  that  of  the  ministry  in  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church. 

With  his  early  days  spent  in  Kansas  and  with  a  wider 
experience  in  other  states,  Mr.  Ryan  is  more  than  ever 
convinced  that  "the  only  solution  of  the  saloon  problem 
is  no  saloon."  He  is  convinced  that  the  ministry  espe- 
cially should  be  outspoken  and  decisive  in  its  leadership 
in  this  reform. 


Prohibition  a  Civic  Necessity. 

By  Archie  L.  Ryan, 
Baker  University,  '06. 

First  Honors  National  Contest  of  1906. 
Central  Interstate  Orator  for  1906. 


(This  oration  was  graded  first  in  thought  and  composition  and  second 
In  delivery  at  the  National  Contest.) 

"Nations  perish  because  their  foundations  crumble." 
This  is  the  verdict  of  philosophers  and  historians  through- 
out the  ages.  Fate  is  not  the  power  that  determines  the 
destiny  of  a  commonwealth.  Immutable  laws  of  justice 
govern  nations  as  well  as  individuals ;  and  the  admoni- 
tions of  history  constitute  a  call  for  obedience  to  these 
underlying  principles.  Civic  righteousness,  untrammelled 
and  undefiled,  is  the  only  safeguard  against  national  dis- 
integration. 

The  basis  of  democratic  government  is  the  will  of  the 
people ;  -consequently,  civic  virtue  is  the  more  essential 
to  our  national  progress.  The  one  impregnable  fortress 
of  civic  reputation  should  be  a  pure  and  undefiled  citizen- 
ship. Yet  our  nation  has  unfurled  the  starry  banner  over 
an  institution  that  is  sapping  its  vitality  and  that  is  cor- 
ruj)ting  the  morals  of  its  citizens.  Americans  boast  of 
the  "land  of  the  free,"  yet  they  are  slaves  to  a  traffic 
which  controls  more  money,  produces  more  poverty, 
causes  more  crime,  and  blights  more  lives  than  any  other 
evil  with  which  human  progress  contends.  Under  such 
conditions,  the  foundation  of  this  republic  is  not  free 
from  decaying  influences.  The  liquor  traffic  is  indeed  a 
menace  to  our  civilization  and  the  trumpet  call  of  the 
hour  demands  attention  to  the  realities  of  the  situation 
and  stringent  action  against  this  foe  to  the  vital  interests 
of  our  state  and  nation. 

The  general  use  of  alcoholic  liquors  is  a  serious  danger 
to  public  health.  Because  of  the  delusive  effects  of  al- 
cohol upon  the  human  system,  it  is  used   for  the  most 

130 


PROHIBITION    A    CIVIC    NECESSITY  131 

contradictory  conditions — heat  and  cold,  strength  and 
weakness,  heahh  and  disease.  But  the  apparent  Hfe  and 
vigor  it  infuses  are  but  the  fraudulent  means  of  con- 
cealing its  depressing  effects.  It  deadens  the  sensibili- 
ties and  ruins  the  intellect.  It  defrauds  a  man  of  his 
vitality  and  eventually  produces  the  most  deadly  dis- 
eases. It  loosens  family  ties,  produces  forgetfulness  of 
all  social  duties,  and  is  the  most  potent  cause  of  misery, 
vice,  and  crime.  These  baneful  effects  are  likewise  vis- 
ited upon  posterity.  Investigation  shows  that  of  the 
offspring  of  non-drinkers  82  per  cent  are  sound,  while 
of  those  of  inebriates  only  17  per  cent  are  healthy.  Surely 
this  nation  cannot  remain  indifferent  to  this  treacherous 
demon  which  is  corrupting  the  youth,  contaminating  the 
home,  endangering  the  public  health  and  impoverishing 
the  nation's  strength  even  to  the  verge  of  destruction. 

This  direful  curse  retards  the  production  of  wealth.  It 
decreases  producing  capacity  and  throws  upon  the  public 
the  burden  of  poverty,  inefficiency,  vice  and  its  punish- 
ment. It  violates  the  fundamental  principles  of  com- 
merce— supply  and  demand.  Instead  of  feeding  the 
natural  wants  it  aggravates  the  abnormal  desires  of  man 
and  subjects  him  to  the  havoc  of  crime  and  degeneration. 
Thus  he  becomes  a  minus  factor  in  the  economic  welfare 
of  society.  The  argument  is  advanced  that  it  lies  with 
the  individual  to  control  his  passions  and  thus  preserve 
his  strength  and  equilibrium.  But  what  shall  be  done 
with  the  thousands  who  are  slaves  to  the  appetite,  strug- 
gling to  be  free,  yet  tempted  every  day  by  the  presence 
around  the  corner,  of  the  inviting  saloon?  No,  it  is  not 
merely  the  appetite  towards  which  efforts  must  be  direct- 
ed. It  is  the  nefarious  traffic  itself  at  which  the  telling 
blows  must  be  struck.  By  reason  of  the  vast  pecuniary 
interests  involved  it  has  lost  all  regard  for  the  higher 
virtues  which  elevate  society ;  and  every  opportunity  is 
used  to  tempt  the  weak  and  rob  the  laborer  of  his  meager 
earnings. 

The  liquor  traffic  makes  the  plea  of  being  a  great 
manufacturing  and  business  enterprise  and  thus  a  bene- 
factor to  the  country,  while  in  reality  it  is  the  arch-enemy 
of  economic,  social,  and  moral  interests.    It  does  not  pro- 


132  WINNING   ORATIONS 

mote  but  -hinders  civic  welfare.  It  robs  of  their  hard- 
earned  wages  the  very  ones  upon  whom  the  welfare  of 
the  nation  rests — the  common  people.  When  a  laborer 
spends  his  money  for  drink  he  receives  no  adequate  re- 
turns. On  the  contrary,  his  family  is  made  wretched,  the 
man  himself  is  impoverished  physically,  intellectually,  and 
morally,  his  position  is  imperiled,  and  his  jnoney.  wasted. 
Where  is  the  economic  justification  for  the  maintenance 
of  such  a  national  peril  ?  It  cannot  be  said  that  this  gov- 
ernment is  enriched  by  such  a  death-dealing  traffic.  The 
statistics  of  1900  reveal  these  startling  facts :  The  actual 
cost  of  the  nation's  liquor  business,  cHrect  and  indirect, 
reached  the  enormous  sum  of  $2,805,000.00.  The  reve- 
nue from  the  traffic  for  the  same  year  amounted  to 
$170,000,000  or  less  than  one  dollar  for  every  sixteen 
dollars  of  the  cost.  This  is  the  kind  of  economy  for 
which  the  license  parties  stand.  It  is  the  height  of  finan- 
cial folly  and  business  stupidity  to  uphold  such  an  enter- 
prise. All  the  gain  that  can  be  shown  on  account  of  this 
vast  expenditure  is  evident  only  in  crime,  disease,  and 
death.  Is  this  the  truth?  Listen  to  the  answer  coming 
from  that  sage  of  all  time.  King  Solomon  of  Judca.  as  it 
echoes  and  rc-cchocs  through  the  corridors  of  thirty 
centuries:  "The  drunkard  shall  come  to  poverty."  Hear 
it  from  the  thousands  of  men,  women  and  children,  roam- 
ing the  streets  of  the  big  cities  to-night,  out  of  work,  pen- 
niless, homeless,  hungry,  living  lives  of  lust  and  sin. 
Would  you  know  the  reason  for  this  degradation?  From 
afar  and  near  comes  the  reply  in  Umcs  of  anguish:  drink 
caused  it  all.  When  will  America  awake  from  her 
lethargy  and  open  her  eyes  to  the  existence  of  this  awful 
curse  which  seeks  to  destroy  the  very  foundations  of  her 
welfare  and  prosperity? 

The  sale  of  alcoholic  liquors  is  either  for  or  against  the 
social  welfare  and  upon  this  proposition  it  must  stand  or 
fall.  It  has  been  shown  to  be  inherently  evil,  in  that  it 
is  injurious  to  the  health,  wealth,  and  morals  of  society, 
that  it  strikes  at  tlie  very  basis  of  civic  welfare,  and  there- 
fore has  no  valid  reason  for  existence.  Legal  sanction 
only  adds  to  the  complexity  of  the  problem.  It  is  a  prin- 
ciple of  representative  government  that  whatever  a  state 


PROHIBITION   A    CIVIC    NECESSITY  133 

or  an  individual  does  through  the  agency  of  another 
holds  the  doer  responsible  legally,  logically,  and  morally. 
When  the  state,  for  a  sum  of  money,  licenses  and  permits 
the  sale  of  liquor,  it  becomes  an  active  partner  to  the 
business.  It  sells  its  God-given  birthright  of  civic  purity, 
and  the  citizen  who  votes  to  support  the  system  com- 
promises his  manhood.  Behold  the  greatest  paradox  of 
the  age !  No  sane  man  will  uphold  the  traffic  from  a 
standpoint  of  ethics.  Yet,  cursed  of  God  and  man,  it 
lives  !  Yea,  prospers  and  rules !  Having  purchased  for  a 
mess  of  pottage  its  right  to  exist,  it  subsidizes  the  press, 
intimidates  politicians,  dominates  political  parties,  con- 
trols electons,  disregards  the  laws,  outrages  all  decency, 
and  defies  interference. 

But  what  shall  be  done  and  how  shall  it  be  accom- 
plished? The  liquor  traffic  is  a  criminal  and  should  be 
dealt  with  accordingly.  The  best  interests  of  American 
citizens  demand  its  abolition.  There  can  be  no  compro- 
mise. He  who  would  regulate  this  evil  should  first  try 
to  regulate  Mt.  Sinai.  The  traffic  has  no  constitutional 
defense.  No  man  has  an  inherent  right  to  sell  intoxi- 
cants, is  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Then  the 
only  logical  and  complete  solution  of  the  problem  is 
national  and  absolute  prohibition.  This  is  the  only  rem- 
edy assuring  permanent  results.  It  strikes  at  the  very 
root  of  the  evil,  by  not  only  condemning  the  retail  busi- 
ness, but  by  placing  the  manufacturing,  distilling  and  im- 
portation of  liquors  forever  under  the  ban  of  law. 

Where  is  the  power  that  shall  make  this  final  victory 
possible?  American  citizens,  it  lies  with  you— you,  who 
cherish  the  right  and  despise  the  wrong — you,  who  love 
the  flag  of  liberty  and  justice  and  would  die  to  sustain 
its  honor.  The  responsibility  cannot  be  evaded.  The 
supreme  need  of  the  hour  is  men — men  of  conviction 
and  courage — men  who  will  live  and  die  for  principle, 
*'men  who  have  honor — men  who  will  not  lie;  men — 
high-minded  MEN."  Shall  we  heed  the  call?  Shall  we 
rise  to  the  God-given  opportunity  and  purge  our  fair 
land  of  this  vile  traffic  which  is  polluting  the  home  and 
undermining  civilization?  Or  shall  we  compromise  con- 
science, and  be  led  aside  from  the  duty  by  the  flatteries 


134  WINNING   ORATIONS 

of  demagogues,  the  lust  of  office,  or  the  greed  for  gain? 
No;  through  the  rifted  clouds  of  sin  and  corruption  is 
seen  a  star  of  hope.  Public  sentiment  is  growing.  From 
the  halls  of  learning  is  pouring  forth  an  army  of  leaders 
filled  with  the  spirit  of  patriotism  and  reform.  The  honor 
of  American  citizenship  will  respond  to  the  appeal  for 
righteous  action.  Under  God  the  glorious  victory  is  as- 
sured. The  dream  of  the  age  approaches  realization. 
The  forces  of  evil  cannot  endure.  This  deadly  traffic 
must  succumb.     Civic  righteousness  will  prevail. 


ELWOOD  STANLEY  MINCHIN, 
Second   Honors.  National  of  1906. 


Elwood  Stanley  Minchin. 

Elwood  Stanley  Minchin  is  a  representative  of  the 
great  Pacific  West  and  as  a  student  orator  typical  of  its 
aggressive  advancement  and  enthusiasm.  In  his  early 
childhood  he  was  taken  to  Oregon,  grew  up  among  her 
valleys  and  wooded  mountains  and  received  his  schooling 
in  the  restricted  but  growing  country  schools  of  that 
state 

In*  1901  he  entered  Pacific  College  at  Newberg,  Oregon 
With  his  first  year  his  oratorical  ambitions  began  to  find 
expression.  In  the  Freshman  oratoricals  he  won  first 
place  over  nine  speakers  and  also  first  in  the  college  con- 
test over  six.  It  was  this  same  year  that  Mr.  Mmchin 
won  the  regular  Oregon  State  Contest  into  which  eight 
colleges  entered  and  was  awarded  a  $30  gold  medal; 
in  the  regular  Interstate  of  the  Northwest  at  Walla 
Walla,  Washington,  he  came  out  second  best.  He  also 
entered  several  college  debates  and  was  beaten  but  once. 
The  next  year  his  work  in  the  prohibition  contests  be- 
gan. Representing  Pacific  College  in  the  Oregon  State 
Contest  he  came  out  first  over  six  competitors  and  was 
awarded  a  $100  cash  prize.  As  State  Representative  he 
went  to  Lincoln,  Nebraska,  in  June  and  secured  fourth 
place  out  of  ten  states  in  the  great  contest  of  the  Inter- 
collegiate Prohibition  Association  there  m  1902. 

During  the  summer  Mr.  Minchin,  as  a  member  of 
Prof.  Kelsey's  campaign  team,  was  engaged  in  field  work 
for  the  Prohibition  party  in  Union  County,  Oregon  He 
served  a  vear  as  President  of  the  Oregon  State  Inter- 
collegiate'  Prohibition  Association.  Remaining  out  of 
college  for  two  years,  he  spent  a  season  in  Ma  ska  and 
traveled  on  the  coast  as  a  commercial  man.  In  l^U^ 
he  entered  Whittier  College  in  Southern  California  and 
immediately  entered  upon  another  oratorical  and  debat- 
ing career.  ^  ,.r  •  c^  4. 
Representing  Whittier  in  the  Southern  California  State 
Prohibition  Contest  in  1906,  he  won  first  with  a  grade  of 

137 


138  WINNING   ORATIONS 

four  one  hundreds.  With  five  contestants  in  the  West- 
ern Interstate  that  year  from  Texas,  CaHfornia,  Oregon 
and  Washington,  he  secured  the  remarkable  honors  of 
six  firsts,  every  judge,  on  both  thought  and  deHvery,  giv- 
ing him  that  rank. 

In  the  national  contest  at  Minneapolis,  with  the  Inter- 
state Orators  of  two  years  entering,  Mr.  Minchin  was 
awarded  second  place  and  a  cash  prize  of  $50,  here  again 
his  oration  standing  high  all  around,  being  given  second 
on  thought  and  third  on  delivery. 

Mr.  Minchin  graduated  from  Whittier  College  in 
1907.  He  has  made  the  prohibition  cause  his  life  pur- 
pose and  expects  to  enter  some  branch  of  that  work.  He 
was  a  leader  in  the  college  prohibition  movement  in  both 
Oregon  and  California,  serving  as  State  President  of  the 
Southern  California  .\sociatinn  in  1906-1907.  Immedi- 
ately after  finishing  college  he  was  engaged  for  a  time 
with  the  Menelcy  Lyceum  lUiroau,  which  makes  the  pro- 
hibition cause  its  chief  work. 


The  Triumph  of  Principle. 

By  Elwood  Stanley  Minchin, 
Whittier  College,  '07. 

Second  Honors  National  Contest  of  1906. 
Western  Interstate  Orator  of  1906. 

(Marked  second  in  thought  and  composition  and  third  in  delivery  at  the 
National;  awarded  six  firsts  at  the  Western  Interstate,  every  judge  giving 
it  that  place.) 

In  a  reform  movement  there  are  always  two  methods  of 
action  that  struggle  for  dominance.  The  one  is  based 
upon  expediency,  the  other  upon  principle.  All  the  re- 
forms of  the  past  have  circled  long  in  the  by-paths  of 
compromise  before  they  have  reached  the  high  ground 
of  perfect  truth  and  righteousness.  Thus  the  most  diffi- 
cult task  in  a  reform  movement  is  to  get  men  to  take  the 
step  upward  from  expediency  to  righteousness,  from 
compromise  to  principle.  The  compromiser  is  always 
popular  and  easily  catches  the  public  ear.  To  the  aver- 
age man,  a  parley  is  better  than  a  battle,  even  when  a 
moral  issue  is  at  stake.  Hence  the  sequence  of  compro- 
mise:  An  expedient  is  embodied  in  law,  precedent  be- 
comes oracle  to  the  public  conscience,  and  new  occasions 
can  but  very  slowly  ''teach  new  duties." 

Compromise  is  but  a  temporary  makeshift,  which  post- 
pones, but  cannot  avoid,  the  final  battle.  When  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise  was  passed  in  1820,  the  greatest  states- 
men in  this  countrv  declared  that  the  slavery  question 
had  been  settled.  Again,  after  Clay's  great  compromise 
of  1850,  they  said  that  at  last  a  final  solution  had  been 
reached.  But  not  so.  A  great  principle  was  marshal- 
ing its  forces.  The  South  saw  the  onward  march  of 
that  principle,  and  took  refuge  in  secession.  It  was  too 
late.  The  truth  of  all  the  ages  now  rang  out  clear  and 
strong  It  woke  the  echoes  on  the  plains  of  Bull  Run; 
it  roared  from  Grant's  guns  on  the  heights  of  Vicksburg; 
it  thundered  along  the  crest  of  Missionary  Ridge ;  Sheri- 
dan sounded  the  cry  in  the  valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  and 

139 


140  WINNING   ORATIONS 

Sherman  told  it  from  Atlanta  to  the  sea.  It  was  the  old 
truth  told  over  again,  sealed  in  the  tears  and  blood  of  a 
nation.  Compromise  cannot  settle  a  moral  question — a 
righteous  principle  must  triumph. 

In  the  battle  against  the  saloons,  expediency  has  taken 
the  form  of  the  license  compromise.  Let  us  examine 
this  system.  The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
has  declared  that  no  citizen  has  the  inherent  right  to  sell 
intoxicating  liquors  for  beverage  purposes.  The  Supreme 
Word  of  God  says:  "Woe  unto  him  that  giveth  his 
neighbor  drink."  Yet  we  know  that  under  our  license 
system  the  saloon  is  made  legal.  It  has  as  much  protec- 
tion under  our  flag  as  the  school,  the  church  or  the  home. 
During  a  recent  political  campaign  politicians  argued 
that  bad  money  could  be  made  good  by  law.  It  takes  no 
forensic  eloquence  to  prove  that  a  bad  saloon  cannot  be 
made  good  by  law.  Sin  is  sin,  even  when  protected  by 
the  laws  of  a  Christian  nation.    • 

From  the  treacherous  shoal  waters  of  compromise  the 
true  reformer  heads  straight  away  toward  the  great  hav- 
en of  truth  and  righteousness.  What  the  pole  star  is  to 
the  mariner,  principle  is  to  the  reformer.  The  old  sea 
captain  charts  the  shifting  shoals,  calculates  the  changing 
of  wind  and  wave  and  tide,  and  then  takes  the  helm  with 
a  clear  eye  for  the  star  of  the  Xorthland,  that  never 
changes.  The  true  reformer  realizes  public  sentiment 
and  changing  conditions  in  society,  but  steers  his  course 
true  to  the  eternal  verities  of  God.  He  does  not  forget 
conditions,  but  in  looking  at  conditions  he  does  not  lose 
sight  of  his  pole-star. 

As  the  centuries  pass,  ideas  and  conditions  change,  but 
the  principles  of  right  and  wrong  remain  the  same  for- 
ever. Principle  is  the  embodiment  of  eternal  truth,  es- 
tablished by  the  laws  of  God.  Principle  in  a  inan's  heart 
holds  him  true  to  his  convictions ;  it  fearlessly  exposes 
falsehood,  sham,  and  unrighteousness;  it  has  the  cour- 
age to  stand  for  truth  and  to  proclaim  it  from  the  house- 
tops. For  strength  and  grandeur  it  is  like  the  giant  oak, 
which  holds  firm  amidst  the  fiercest  tempests.  For  un- 
wavering fidelity  to  its  mission  it  is  like  the  great  ship, 
for  principle  stems  the  tides  of  persecution  and  outrides 


THE   TRIUMPH    OF    PRINCIPLE  141 

the  Storms  that  compromise  dares  not  face.  For  untir- 
ing perseverance  it  is  Hke  the  Httle  coral,  building  slowly 
upward,  toiling  in  the  darkness,  through  years  of  seem- 
ingly useless  effort,  until  at  last  it  lifts  its  head  above 
the  waves,  defies  the  opposing  tempests,  and  gives  safe 
refuge  to  ship-wrecked  mariners. 

So  the  principle  of  prohibition  has  toiled  in  America 
for  four  decades.  The  tides  of  compromise  sentiment 
and  partisan  policy  have  surged  madly  against  it,  but  in 
vain.  Slowly  it  has  built  on  and  up,  until  here  and  there 
in  our  land  it  offers  a  safe  refuge  to  the  victims  of  alco- 
hol, shipwrecked  and  tempest  tossed. 

The  truth  of  the  prohibition  principle  is  almost  axiom- 
atic. It  would  be  taken  for  granted,  had  we  not  be- 
come accustomed  to  the  license  fallacy.  The  same  con- 
siderations that  have  argued  against  tyranny  and  injus- 
tice, through  all  the  past,  argue  against  license  and  for 
prohibition.  The  despotism  of  King  George  was  unjust; 
the  traffic  in  black  men  was  a  curse  upon  humanity ; 
but  the  license  system  is  all  of  this  and  more.  It  is  un- 
merciful, unjust,  a  curse  upon  humanity,  a  mockery  of 
Christian  civilization,  and  a  sin  against  Almighty  God. 

When  we  look  out  over  our  beautiful  land  and  see  the 
saloon  flourishing,  under  the  protection  of  the  American 
flag,  flaunting  its  vices  in  the  path  of  childhood,  engulf- 
ing young  manhood,  breathing  its  blasting  breath  upon 
the  fair  flower  of  womanhood,  making  a  mock  and  by- 
word of  the  church,  and  sending  one  hundred  thousand 
men  to  a  drunkard's  hell  every  year,  we  wonder  why 
Christian  citizenship  does  not  rise  in  its  might  and  with 
one  blow  crush  the  power  of  the  liquor  traffic  forever. 
Why  does  it  live  on?  Why  does  it  grow  bolder  year 
after  year?  Because,  to  the  average  man,  compromise 
is  easier  than  non-compromise.  To  the  so-called  prac- 
tical man,  expediency  is  the  wiser  course,  because  it  is 
the  easier  to  follow.  Two  thousand  years  ago  the  prac- 
tical men  joined  in  the  cry  for  Christ  to  come  down 
from  the  cross  and  win  a  momentary  victory.  Such 
men  would  have  humanity  avoid  every  Calvary  and  live 
only  for  the  present.  Listening  to  the  voice  of  expedi- 
ency, fearing  social  ostracism  or  business  boycott,  mil- 


142  WINNING   ORATIONS 

lions  of  American  citizens,  who  would  not  flinch  before 
a  storm  of  shot  and  shell  upon  the  battlefield,  refuse  to 
march  into  the  arena  and  meet  the  forces  of  King  Alcohol 
in  a  fight  to  the  death. 

But  a  great  change  is  taking  place  in  public  sentiment 
to-day.  The  signs  of  the  times  tell  us  that  in  the  battle 
against  the  saloon  the  compromiser  has  had  his  day,  and 
that  the  time  has  fully  come  for  him  to  stand  aside.  The 
Christian  reformer  has  suffered  his  hoots  and  jeers  well 
up  to  historic  measure.  Humanity,  beating  time  to  local 
agitation  and  church  resolution,  is  preparing  to  swing 
into  line  and  "Forward"  to  the  onward  march  of  a  great 
principle.  The  advance  guard  of  the  army  is  already 
here.  There  are  banded  together  in  one  heroic  God- 
fearing-man-loving political  party,  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  patriots,  who  maintain  that  principle  is  better 
than  compromise,  righteousness  better  than  expediency, 
and  that  a  fight  for  the  right  is  better  than  a  truce  with 
sin.  Such  men  have  led  the  reforms  of  the  past.  Such 
men  love  principle.  They  work  for  it,  live  for  it,  and, 
if  needs  be,  die  for  it.  Such  men  make  up  the  rank  and 
file  of  the  prohibition  forces  to-day.  Hated  by  many, 
and  especially  by  the  saloon,  they  march  on  in  trium- 
phant campaign  for  righteousness.  Their  only  path  is 
duty,  their  only  lamp  is  truth,  and  their  goal  is  victory. 

In  the  anti-slavery  agitation  Abraham  Lincoln  once 
said :  "The  young  men  are  coming,  now  we  are  going  to 
win."  And  the  young  men  are  rallying  to-day  for  the 
fight  against  this  more  dangerous  enemy.  Negro  slavery 
was  legalized  in  the  South  ;  the  liquor  traffic  is  legalized 
throughout  the  nation.  Slavery  was  sectional :  the 
saloon  is  universal.  Slavery  threatened  the  unity  of  the 
government ;  the  saloon  threatens  the  sanctity  of  our 
homes.  Slavery  bound  men's  bodies  for  the  time:  the 
saloon  binds  men  body  and  soul,  for  time  and  for  eternity. 
This  mighty  enemy  confronts  us  to-day.  It  stands  en- 
trenched in  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  legalized 
fortresses  of  hell.  Shall  we  falter?  Shall  we  turn  back 
in  dismay?  No,  a  thousand  times,  no!  We  shall  gird 
ourselves  doubly  for  the  fight.  W'e,  the  young  men  of 
the  country,  shall  rally  ;   rallv   like  the  cnisadcrs  before 


THE    TRIUMPH    OF    PRINCIPLE  143 

Jerusalem,  like  the  minute  men  at  Lexington,  like  Sheri- 
dan's men  in  the  Shenandoah.  With  the  spotless  emblem 
of  purity  before  us,  with  the  prayers  of  mothers  m  our 
ears  with  a  drink-cursed  humanity  about  us  and  a  God 
of  righteousness  above  us,  we  will  buckle  on  the  bright 
sword  of  prohibition,  we  shall  wield  it  for  the  tnumph 
of  principle  over  compromise,  and  never  sheathe  it  until 
it  has  flashed  in  triumph  over  the  crumbled  and  fallen 
ramparts  of  the  last  legalized  saloon. 


Walter  R.  Miles. 

Of  pure  Quaker  blood  for  many  generations  back 
Walter  R.  Miles  early  caught  the  deep  enthusiasm  ol 
service  in  behalf  of  his  fellows  for  which  his  college  and 
oratorical  courses  have  prepared  him. 

He  was  born  on  a  homestead  near  the  village  of  Sil- 
verwood,  N.  D.,  March  29th,  1885.  A  few  years  later 
his  parents  removed  to  Scotts  Mills,  Oregon,  where  Wal- 
ter received  his  common  school  education.  After  a  year 
under  private  instruction,  he  entered  the  preparatory  de- 
partment of  Pacific  College  at  Xewberg,  Oregon,  a 
Friends  school,  following  this  with  his  college  course  in 
the  same  place,  graduating  with  the  degree  of  B.  S.  in 
June,  1906. 

In  this  vigorously-growing  young  college  Mr.  Miles 
took  high  rank  as  a  scholar  ami  an  active  place  in  the 
various  student  enterprises.  lie  was  one  year  president 
of  his  class,  two  years  president  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and 
served  a  year  as  president  of  the  Prohibition  League. 
He  took  prominent  part  in  all  sorts  of  oratorical  and  de- 
bating meets,  beginning  while  yet  a  preparatory  student. 
In  1903-1904  he  entered  the  Prohibition  oratorical  con- 
tests, winning  the  local  and  state  and  following  this  with 
first  at  the  Western  Interstate,  held  that  year  at  Corval- 
lis.  Oregon.  At  the  National  Contest  at  Indianapolis. 
Ind.,  June  28,  1904.  Mr.  Miles  was  royally  supported  by 
a  strong  delegation  from  his  own  state  as  well  as  from 
other  states  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  As  an  orator  he  com- 
pletely captured  his  audience  of  over  2.500  people.  It 
is  seldom  that  a  public  speaker  of  wide  experience  find> 
such  an  opportunity  and  fills  it  so  well  as  did  this  young 
speaker,  not  yet  twenty  years  of  age. 

Mr.  Miles  finished  an  advanced  course  at  Earlham 
College  in  1908  and  is  now  instructor  in  psychology'  at 
Penn  college,  Oskaloosa.  Iowa.  He  is  an  earnest  worker 
for  the  prohibition  cause  and  deems  it  both  a  duty  and  a 
privilege  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  overthrow  of  thr 
saloon. 

144 


WALTER  R.  MILES, 

Highest  Honors,  National  of  1904. 


Sacrifice  Is  the  Victory  Spirit. 

By  Walter  R.   Miles. 
Pacific   College,  '06. 

First  Honors  National  Contest  of  1904. 
Western  Interstate  Orator  for  1904. 

(This  oration  won  first  honors  because  of  its  able  delivery,  being  marked 
first    In  delivery  and  fifth  in  thought  and  composition.) 

History  smiles  through  her  tears  as  she  recalls  the 
battle  of  Sempach.  This  is  her  picture  :  the  Swiss  and 
Austrian  armies  were  drawn  up  in  battle  line.  On  one 
side  was  a  little  band  of  liberty-loving  peasants,  on  the 
other,  the  veterans  of  a  hundred  conflicts.  The  signal 
for  battle  was  given.  The  onset  was  furious.  It  was  not 
accompanied  by  the  rattle  of  musketry  or  the  boom  of 
artillery,  but  by  the  sound  of  steel  clashing  steel  as 
men  fought  hand  to  hand,  each  for  his  life.  But  the 
Swiss  were  repulsed.  The  Austrian  Hotspurs  encircled 
them.  On  every  side  bristled  long,  steel  lances,  which 
ever  drew  nearer  the  center  as  the  outer  circles  of  Swiss 
melted  away  under  their  deadly  thrusts.  It  was  one  of 
destiny's  crucial  moments.  The  fate  of  nations  yet  un- 
born hung  upon  the  outcome.  Suddenly  out  of  the 
midst  of  the  Swiss  ranks  rushed  a  single  man,  unarmed. 
As  he  sprang  forward  he  shouted  :  "  Comrades,  I  will 
open  a  way  for  you."  With  a  bound  he  threw  his  body 
against  the  bristling  front  of  the  enemy  and  bore  to 
earth  the  lances  that  pierced  his  breast.  Through  the 
breach  thus  made  his  comrades  rushed  from  death  and 
defeat  to  life  and  freedom. 

I  am  not  here  to  sound  the  praises  of  Arnold  Wink- 
elried.  I  seek  to  add  no  laurel  to  the  wreath  that 
crowns  his  brow.  The  story  of  his  death  will  be  told 
and  retold  down  the  generations.  But  would  that  the 
Muse  of  History  might  today  teach  us  the  lesson  of 
his  death  and  breathe  upon  us  the  spirit  of  his  deed, 
for  fraternal  self-sacrifice  is  the  cost  of  liberty,  the  key- 

147 


148  WINNING    ORATIONS 

note  of  progress.  It  was  not  new  to  the  world  when 
Winkelried  uttered  it.  In  the  past  it  had  spoken  from 
the  ghastly  frame-work  of  the  gallows,  from  out  the 
cold  honor  of  the  dungeon,  from  off  the  executioner's 
block,  from  amid  the  black  smoke  of  burning  fagots. 
You  can  hear  its  words  from  the  rack  and  gibbet  of 
centuries  gone,  from  the  Grecian  sage  as  he  drinks  the 
hemlock,  yes,  and  from  the  middle  cross  of  Golgotha: 
"I'll  give  myself  to  make  a  way  for  you."  Nor  did  this 
spirit  of  sacrifice  die  on  the  battle  fields  of  the  Swiss 
Rovolution.  It  lived  on,  championing  many  an  unpop- 
ular cause,  recruiting  an  army  of  heroes  and  martyrs, 
fighting  many  a  fight  against  human  wrong. 

Its  ranks  are  made  up  of  men  and  women  who  live 
and  die  vicariously.  Their  names  stand  out  from  the 
hazy  background  of  history  and  shine  with  the  peculiar 
brightness  of  stars  of  the  first  magnitude.  They  are  the 
watchwords  of  humanity  and  marble  shafts  tower  high 
and  white  as  fit  tokens  of  their  matchless  lives,  because 
they  dared  to  come  out  from  the  crowd  and  stand 
alone,  if  need  be.  Men  like  Martin  Luther,  who  was  not 
afraid  of  emptfror  nor  pope,  duke  nor  demcMi,  but  in  the 
face  of  all  could  say:  "Here  stand  I;  confute  me  by 
proofs  from  Scripture,  or  else  by  i)lain,  just  arguments. 
Otherwise,  I  will  not  recant."  Alcn  like  the  Pilgrims, 
"  those  stalwart  old  iconoclasts,"  who  steered  their 
Mayflower  "into  the  wintry  sea"  that  they  might  "open 
a  way"  for  their  comrades  and  posterity;  who  laid  the 
foundations  of  a  nation,  planted  the  seeds  of  civiliation 
and  protected  the  i^^rowih  of  freedom — not  for  them- 
selves. Men  like  the  Continentals  of  X'alley  Forge  who, 
not  amid  the  inspiring  bugle-call  and  drum-beat  of  the 
battle,  but  in  the  silent  struggles  on  the  old  camping 
ground,  suffered  cold,  disease  and  hunger  to  serve  their 
country  and  make  a  way  for  liberty.  Ah!  these  are  the 
"embattled  farmers,"  heroes  of  the  darkest  hour  of  the 
Revolution,  heralds  of  the  brightest  noonday  of  our  in- 
dependence ! 

Who  has  better  ri.Ljht  to  be  proud  of  forefathers  than 
we  ourselves  ?  Who  can  boast  of  a  more  costly 
banner?  To  whom  does  there  come  half  so  rich  an  her- 


SACRIFICE    IS    THE   VICTORY    SPIRIT  149 

itacre  of  liberty  as  to  us?  But,  my  friends,  let  not  the 
Story  of  such  things  tempt  us  to  idle  contemplation  of 
the  past,  or  to  dreaming  with  ungirt  loins  that  the 
golden  age  is  come.  Freedom  will  not  keep.  It  is  like 
manna  to  be  gathered  from  the  fields  of  every  new  day. 
Nothing  is  more  tragic  than  to  sleep  on  the  battle-fields 
of  past  victories,  than  to  wrap  oursevles  in  the  freedom 
which  our  fathers  won  and  dream  that  we  are  free.  If 
we  waste  our  heritage  succeeding  generations  will  rise 
up  and  curse  us,  and  the  blood  of  our  past  will  cry  out, 
"unworthy."  Therefore,  not  only  should  we  dedicate 
whitest  marble  to  the  patriotic  dead,  but  we  should 
consecrate  ourselves  "  to  the  unfinished  work  which 
they  have  thus  far  so  nobly  carried  on  "  Would  we 
transmit  our  heritage,  multiplied  and  enriched,  to  the 
heirs  of  the  future?  Voices  from  the  tomb  of  the  illus- 
trious dead,  whom  we  love  to  honor,  cry  to  us,  "There 
is  but  one  way  to  do  this— only  through  the  sacrifice  of 
selfo^  the  altar  of  common  weal." 

The  foes  with  whom  our  fathers  fought  for  indepen- 
dence came  from  beyond  the  sea,  ours  were  grown 
within  our  borders.  In  the  days  of  Winkelried,  it  was 
Switzerland  ;  today  it  is  our  own  beloved  America 
whose  liberties  we  see  threatened  by  a  circle  of  insolent 
foes,  led  by  that  mother  of  lawlessness  and  breeder  of 
anarchy— the  American  Saloon. 

We  need  take  no  time  in  proving  that  the  saloori  is 
bad  It  has  been  tried  before  the  bar  of  public  opinion 
and  convicted.  The  indictment  has  included  pauper- 
ism, poisoned  public  health, increase  of  crime,  paralyzed 
industries,  laws  violated,  manhood  debauched,  woman- 
hood ruined,  motherhood  blighted,  homes  desolated 
and  souls  damned.  Yes,  the  counts  against  the  saloon 
run  the  whole  gamut  of  crimes,  legal  and  moral.  All 
the  testimony  of  all  the  ages  thunders  against  this  mon- 
ster criminal  and  from  the  court  of  your  own  conscience 
as  judge  comes  the  sentence  full  and  steady  and  strong: 
"  The  saloon  must  die." 

To  execute  this  sentence  means  a  giant  struggle.  We 
must  rally  the  hosts  of  righteousness  for  a  fight  to  the 
death.    Our  task  is  not  a  small  one  and  it  will  no  tbe 


150  WINNING   ORATIONS 

easily  accomplished.  We  are  not  united.  Arrayea 
against  us  is  political  prejudice  and  the  appetite  for  the 
accursed  drink.  The  dollar  is  still  mighty  at  the  polls 
and  in  the  lobbies.  Newspaper  editorial  space  is  sold 
to  highest  bidders.  Yes,  our  task  is  great,  our  enemy 
is  strong,  stronger  than  we  are,  stronger  than  our  whole 
party, — but  not  stronger  than  our  God.  And  shall  we 
surrender?  Shall  we  compromise?  Are  all  the  heroes 
dead?  Are  we  unworthy  of  our  country's  past?  J\Ien, 
I  appeal  to  your  love  for  home,  for  fatherland,  for 
God.  Listen  to  the  voice  of  the  past  :  Sacrifice  is  the 
philosophy  of  reform. 

No,  the  spirit  of  the  Swiss  Patriot  is  not  new,  nor  did 
it  die,  for  as  the  Lord  liveth  the  Prohibition  Party  is 
the  embodiment  of  that  spirit  today.  For  neary  fifty 
years  it  has  sacrificed  all  else  for  its  one  great  prinici- 
ple.  And  during  this  campaign  and  the  next,  if  need 
be  for  another  decade,  yes,  another  half  century,  this 
God-inspired  band  of  patriots  will  allow  itself  to  be 
mocked  and  spit  upon  and  crowned  with  thorns,  but 
on  every  election  day,  gathering  into  its  breast  a  sheaf 
of  spears  it  will  give  itself  to  make  a  way  for  a  rum- 
cursed  humanity.  And  today  Truth  sounds  the  bugle 
note  calling  for  more  of  these  heroes.  "  Give  me  more 
soldiers,"  she  says  :  "men  who  love  principle  ;  men 
who  have  convictions  and  will  stand  by  them,  alone  if 
need  be;  men  who  scorn  bribes  and  threats  and  the  se- 
seductive  flattery  of  public  opinion  ;  men  who  ?.re  the 
sworn  foes  of  injustice,  the  implacable  enemies  of  dis- 
honesty in  public  life  ;  men  who  love  this  nation  more 
than  they  love  themselves  ;  men  filled  with  the  spirit 
of  the  Swiss  Patriot,  the  spirit  of  fraternal  sacrifice, — 
the  spirit  of  victory." 


MAMIE  WHITE  COLVIX. 

Second   Honors.    National  of   1904. 


Mamie  White  Colvin. 

The  first  young  woman  to  win  national  honors  in  the 
oratorical  contests  of  the  Intercollegiate  Prohibition 
Association,  Mrs.  Mamie  White  Colvin,  is  a  native  of 
Ohio.  Her  father.  Rev.  Levi  White,  a  Congregational 
minister,  was  always  much  interested  in  the  fight 
against  the  saloon  and  was  also  a  well-known  writer 
of  books  on  religious  subjects.  Her  mother  has  been 
prominent  in  the  work  of  the  Woman's  Christian  Tem- 
perance Union. 

Mrs.  Colvin  began  her  education  in  the  city  schools 
of  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  graduating  from  the  Manual 
Training  High  School  of  that  city  in  June,  1901.  She 
then  took  a  graduate  course  in  the  High  School  and 
during  the  time  was  a  member  of  the  Debating  Club 
and  the  school  Senate.  This  course  was  followed  by 
the  regular  course  at  Wheaton  College,  Illinois,  from 
which  she  graduated  in  June,  1905,  and  this  in  turn 
by  post-graduate  work  in  sociology  at  Columbia  Uni- 
versity. 

The  public  speaking  career  of  this  noted  young 
woman  orator  began  before  she  entered  High  School, 
by  the  winning  of  the  W.C.T.U.  Silver  Medal  Contest. 
This  was  followed  successively  by  the  small  gold,  the 
grand  gold,  and  the  diamond  medals.  In  college  at 
Wheaton  she  was  prominent  in  literary  society  and  or- 
atorical work,  winning  repeatedly  in  declamatory  and 
oratorical  contests.  During  her  second  year  in  college 
she  first  entered  the  Prohibition  League  contests.  From 
the  first  she  went  in  to  win,  setting  for  her  motive  the 
doing  of  something  effective  against  the  liquor  curse. 
Her  appeal  was  always  in  the  interests  of  those  of  the 
innocent  ones  who  were  suffering  from  this  evil. 

Winning  in  the  Wheaton  Local  Contest,  Mrs.  Colvin 
entered  the  Illinois  State,  where  she  secured  highest 
honors,  and  then  in  one  of  the  most  highy  contested 
Interstate  Contests  at  Springfield,  Illinois, was  awarded 
first  honors  and  a  fifty-dollar  prize.  In  June  of  the  sam© 

153 


154  WINNING   ORATIONS 

year,  1904,  she  represented  the  Central  Interstate  Sec- 
tion at  the  Indianapolis  National  Contest,  the  first  Na- 
tional of  its  kind  ever  held,  where  she  secured  second 
place. 

While  in  college,  Mrs.  Colvin  was  an  earnest  worker 
in  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Association  and  in  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Society.  She  was  also  much  inter- 
ested in  the  girls'  Basket  Ball  Team,  of  which  she  was  a 
member.  She  was  president  of  the  local  Prohibition 
League  one  year  and  at  the  National  Convention  at  In- 
dianapolis was  elected  vice-president  of  the  National 
Association,  which  position  she  held  for  two  years.  She 
is  an  enthusiastic  leader  in  the  student  movement,  always 
equipped  with  abundant  resources  and  practical  ideas. 
On  September  19,  1906,  she  was  married  to  the  president 
of  the  Association,  ^Ir.  D.  Leigh  Colvin. 

Her  other  work  for  the  Temperance  cause  has  been 
equally  varied  and  successful.  She  has  spoken  fre- 
quently at  Temperance  Chautauquas  and  conventions. 
In  1905  she  was  County  Superintendent  of  Medal  Con- 
test work  in  Indiana.  The  same  year  she  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  State  Executive  Committee  of  the  Pro 
hibition  Party  of  Indiana,  the  only  woman  who  has  ever 
held  such  a  place  in  that  state. 


The  Right  to  Prohibit  Wrong. 

By  Mamie  White  Colvin. 
Wheaton  College, '05. 

Second  Honors  National  Contest  of  1904. 
Central  Interstate  Orator  for  1904. 

(This  oration  was  graded  fourth  in  thought  and  composition  and  second 
in  delivery  at  the  National  Contest.) 

I.  This  nation  is  in  an  irrepressible  conflict.  The 
contending  forces  have  passed  the  stage  of  palliation. 
For  the  friends  of  truth  to  hesitate  now  would  be  to 
surrender  to  the  side  of  wrong  all  that  we  hold  sacred 
in  time  and  valuable  in  eternity.  The  moral  distinction 
in  character,  the  dissimilarity  of  purpose  and  eternal 
enmity  existing  between  the  combatants,  are  such  as  to 
make  peace  impossible  while  the  stars  and  stripes  give 
protection  to  a  foe  that  threatens  the  very  life  of  every 
American  home. 

II.  Justice  determines  the  moral  element  in  this  issue 
and  indicates  the  certain  and  final  triumph  of  right  over 
wrong.  This  principle  forms  the  basis  of  all  righteous 
government.  The  law  that  governs  the  conduct  of  an 
individual  should  govern  the  masses.  Can  it  be  right 
for  the  multitude  to  do  what  would  be  wrong  for  the 
individual?  Whatever  is  morally  wrong  can  never  be 
legally  right.  The  law  of  right  binds  all  men,  even  an- 
gels, and  in  its  self-imposed  bonds  may  be  said  to  bind 
the  throne  ot  God.  "  Thou  shalt  not  kill."  "  Love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself."  These  enactments  are  universal 
in  their  application. 

(a)  The  licensed  drink  traffic  is  the  arch-enemy  of 
our  government — a  menace  to  every  home  and  individ- 
ual. It  spreads  depredation  and  death  everywhere.  It 
steels  the  heart  and  nerves  the  hand  of  the  assassin 
whose  unconscious  victim  may  be  his  dearest  friend. 
Then  comes  the  horrors  of  the  trial,  the  conviction  and 
the  gallows.   But  we  are  told  there  will  be  another  trial, 

155 


156  WINNING   ORATIONS 

another  judgment  bar,  where  all  the  accessories  before 
the  deed  will  be  arraigned  to  answer  the  common  in- 
dictment. The  Judge  on  the  great  white  throne  will 
say,  "Whose  hand  fits  this  knife?"  Some  devoted  hus- 
band in  that  awful  moment  answers,  "Oh,  Father,  it  is 
mine,  I  murdered  my  darling  wife.  But,  oh,  I  loved 
her  so!  It  was  rum  that  did  it."  If  there  is  to  be  any 
mercy  meted  out  on  that  awful  day  it  will  be  to  such  a 
one.  And  the  Judge  will  say,  'Whose  hand  fits  this 
bottle  and  giveth  his  brother  drink?"  Two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  white-aproned  barkeepers  will  recognize 
their  share  in  the  murder  of  the  millions  slain  by  rum 
and  whose  plea  for  mercy  will  be  unavailing  in  that 
day.  But  the  Judge  will  continue,  "Whose  hands  drop- 
ped those  ballots  that  sent  the  men  to  the  legislature, 
who  passed  a  law,  or  left  a  law  upon  the  statute  books 
that  made  it  legal  for  the  saloonkeeper  to  sell  the  vile 
poison  with  which  to  ruin  his  neighbor?"  And  then — 
you  and  I  — if  we  dropped  such  ballots,  will  feel  the 
hot  blood  of  the  victims  splash  into  our  faces  and  drop 
from  our  finger  ends.  May  God  have  mercy  on  our 
souls  ! 

III.  In  legalizing  the  sale  of  intoxicants  we  have 
thrust  upon  ourselves  an  evil  that  endangers  life,  liber- 
ty and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  That  the  dramshop  is 
a  curse  no  sane  man  will  deny.  All  great  and  good 
men  have  for  years  thundered  their  anathemas  against 
it.  Lawyers,  judges,  statesmen,  yea,  and  even  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States,  have  pronounced  it 
irrevocably  wrong  and  hostile  to  the  welfare  of  the 
people  and  nation.  Concerning  no  other  evil  is  there 
any  doubt  of  the  power  of  the  government  to  exercise 
its  prohibitive  authority.  Why  does  not  the  government 
prohibit  that  which  it  pronounces  injurious  to  its  citi- 
zens? It  is  a  mere  matter  of  expediency,  a  (]uestion  of 
dollars  and  cents  reckoned  by  a  poor  mathematician  ! 
(a)  As  to  the  acknowledged  legal  right  to  prohibit 
that  which  is  a  manace  to  the  welfare  of  the  republic. 
Chief  Justice  Taney  said, "If  any  state  deems  the  retail 
and  internal  traffic  in  ardent  spirits  injurious  to  its  citi- 
zens and  calculated  to  produce  illness,  vice  or  debauch- 


THE   RIGHT   TO   PROHIBIT    WRONG  157 

ery,  I  see  nothing  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  to  prevent  it  from  prohibiting  it  altogether  if  it 
thinks  proper."  The  highest  civil  authority  in  the  Unit- 
ed States  confirmed  the  above  statement  when  the  Su- 
preme Court  declared  "that  more  crime  was  attributa- 
ble to  ardent  spirits  obtained  in  these  retail  liquor  sa- 
loons than  to  any  other  source,"  and  "that  there  is  no 
inherent  right  in  a  citizen  to  thus  sell  intoxicating 
liquors  by  retail,"  and  "  if  a  loss  of  revenue  should  ac- 
crue to  the  United  States  from  a  diminished  consump- 
tion of  ardent  spirits,  she  will  be  a  gainer  a  thousand 
fold  in  the  health,  wealth  and  happiness  of  the  peo- 
ple." These  facts  show  that  the  evils  of  the  liquor 
traffic,  which  are  condemned  by  the  highest  tribunal, 
ought  to  be  dealt  with  as  the  government  deals  with 
all  other  evils  which  it  assumes  to  itself  the  right  to 
abolish.  This  is  the  only  evil  which  has  been  so  con- 
demned by  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  which 
has  not  been  prohibited  by  law. 

(b)  The  responsibility  of  prohibiting  wrong  does  not 
alone  rest  upon  an  officer  as  the  servant  of  the  people. 
In  a  government  like  ours  every  voter  is  a  sovereign 
and  is  individually  responsible  for  the  principle  or  the 
policy  he  indorses  at  the  ballot  box.  That  the  majority 
of  mankind  are  likely  to  go  wrong  is  no  justification 
for  any  citizens  going  with  them  or  deviating  one  hair's 
breadth  from  what  he  knows  to  be  right.  Can  any  sane 
man  deny  that  the  saloon  is  immoral  and  against  the 
best  interests  of  society?  Its  fruits  are  so  deplorable 
that  no  one  has  an  inherent  right  to  carry  it  on.  Every 
individual  should  so  act  that  the  legislative  and  exec- 
utive departments  of  our  government  shall  take  a  stand 
regarding  this  evil  consistent  with  that  of  the  judicial 
department.  The  only  agency  to  effect  this  is  the  bal- 
lot. 

IV.  What  has  been  proposed  as  a  remedy  for  this 
wrong?  The  prevalent  method  has  been  to  license  the 
business.  Statistics  show,  and  no  one  will  deny,  that 
license  does  not  in  any  way  impede  the  growth  or  check 
the  prosperity  of  the  traffic.  The  South  Carolina  Dis- 
densary,  another  method  that  has  been  tried,  is  a  glaring 


158  WINNING  ORATIONS 

example  of  the  futility  of  restraint  by  regulation.  Under 
this  plan  the  consumption  of  intoxicating  liquors  has 
increased  enormously  in  the  last  eight  years.  To  pro- 
hibit the  wrong  is  the  only  method.  God  has  never 
regulated  or  licensed  sin.  His  commands  are  "Thou 
shalt  not."  The  two  dominant  parties  have  proven  their 
unwillingness  to  destroy  the  liquor  power.  The  only 
light  that  appears  in  the  political  horizon  to  give  hope 
to  the  millions  who  are  crying  to  God  for  a  cessation 
of  the  usurpation  of  the  liquor  oligarchy,  is  found  \n 
that  party  possessed  of  sufficient  moral  conviction  to 
declare  in  its  platform  eternal  enmity  to  wrong  and  to 
promise  a  rigid  enforcement  of  all  righteous  law  when 
elected  to  power.  The  terrible  doom  of  national  decay 
is  upon  us,  unless  God  in  his  mercy  shall  so  wave  the 
political  wand  as  to  bestir  the  better  elements  of  soci- 
ety to  rise  in  their  divinely  given  right  and  prohibit 
this  awful  wrong. 

The  only  means  that  has  been,  or  ever  will  be,effect- 
ive,  as  demonstrated  in  practice  and  sanctioned  by  rea- 
son,is  complete  state  and  national  prohibition.  No  com- 
promise, apology  or  half-way  measure  should  be  tried 
any  longer.  According  to  calm,  candid  judgment,  can 
one  remain  inactive  or  silent  and  still  be  innocent  of 
his  brother's  blood  that  ''cricth  from  the  ground"  con- 
tinually? 

The'thunder  and  lightning  of  God,  which  is  finally  to 
destroy  the  Rum  Demon,  is  the  Christian's  ballot,  di- 
rected by  an  enlightened  C(mscience.  Away  with  poli- 
tics, if  it  is  not  pledged  to  protect  the  boys  and  girls 
from  the  infernal  traffic.  Arouse,  ye  voters!  Strike  the 
Rum  Demon  down.  The  day  of  his  dethronement  is  at 
hand.  Louder  than  thunder  in  summer's  first  shower, 
on  the  dome  of  the  sky,  God  is  striking  the  hour  of 
our  deliverance  from  rum.  All  can  now  see,  soon  all 
will  say  that  it  is  "right  to  prohibit  wrong." 


A  Political  Problem. 

By  Harry  C.  Culver, 
Cornell  College,  '04. 

Central  Interstate  Orator  for  1903. 

(This  oration  was  graded  first  in  thought  and  composition  and  sixth  in 
delivery  at  the  National  at  Indianapolis.) 

The  twentieth  century  faces  no  more  serious  question 
than  that  of  the  liquor  traffic.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to 
marshal  an  array  of  statistics  showing  the  well  under- 
stood relation  of  the  saloon  to  poverty  and  crime.  I 
shall  not  attempt  to  picture  the  wrecked  lives  and  ruined 
homes  for  which  the  traffic  is  responsible,  nor  shall  I  tell 
you  how  it  is  intrenched  in  our  great  cities.  From  these 
strategic  points  of  American  civilization,  it  reaches  out 
to  corrupt  and  dominate  politics.  It  is  undermining  the 
very  foundations  of  our  government,  but  even  this  I 
shall  not  discuss.  Examine  the  question  from  any  stand- 
point and  it  demands  our  thoughtful  consideration ;  but 
the  most  important  question  at  present  is,  "How  is  the 
traffic  to  be  controlled?" 

The  great  crusade  against  the  legalized  liquor  traffic 
has  been  in  progress  for  nearly  a  century,  marked  by  peri- 
ods of  advancement,  followed  by  seeming  retrogression. 
There  is  at  present  a  world-wide  awakening  of  interest 
in  the  temperance  question.  This  is  especially  true  in  our 
own  country  which  should  take  the  lead  in  this  great 
movement.  But  with  this  awakening  of  interest  comes 
the  problem  of  conflicting  methods  of  control.  Must 
we  have  political  action,  in  addition  to  the  recognized 
moral  and  educational  agencies? 

That  the  temperance  question  has  become  political  is 
deplored  by  many.  It  is  often  asserted  that  great  moral 
questions  should  not  be  allowed  to  descend  to  the  realm 
of  political  contention.  They  should  be  fought  out  on 
the  high  plane  of  principle.  Those  who  hold  these  views 
urge  that  moral  suasion  is  the  best  method  of  dealing 

159 


160  WINNING  ORATIONS 

with  temperance  reform.  But  past  history  shows  that 
moral  suasion  alone  is  not  sufficient.  Great  moral  awak- 
enings such  as  the  Washingtonian,  Gough  and  Ribbon 
movements  have  served  to  arouse  interest,  but  nothing 
permanent  has  been  accomplished.  Moral  suasion  may 
cultivate  sentiment  but  sentiment  must  lead  to  definite 
action  or  its  results  will  be  temporary.  The  history  of 
these  past  attempts  shows  that  we  cannot  control  the 
liquor  traffic  by  moral  forces  alone.  The  saloon  is  a 
creature  of  law,  and  under  certain  restrictions  has  the 
sanction  of  law  and  is  protected  by  law.  It  is  because  of 
this  protection  that  moral  suasion  is  inadequate.  Leave 
the  liquor  traffic  secure  in  the  stronghold  of  law  and 
despite  all  efforts  to  the  contrary  it  will  create  its  own 
environment  and  continue  its  work  of  destruction.  If 
the  traffic  is  to  be  controlled,  the  law  which  is  back  of 
the  traffic  must  be  reached.  This  can  be  accomplished 
only  by  political  action.  All  past  measures  of  control 
have  been  by  means  of  legislation.  The  saloon  fights 
with  political  weapons.  Thirty-nine  years  ago,  the  united 
saloon  forces  entered  American  politics  with  the  declara- 
tion, "We  will  sup])grt  no  party  which  is  unfriendly  to 
our  traffic."  The  saloon  question  is  in  politics  and  that 
is  the  place  for  it.  Practically  all  great  reforms  in  the 
past  have  come  through  political  means.  Slavery  became 
a  political  issue  before  it  was  abolished.  Even  child  labor 
reform  in  our  cTties  to-day  is  being  accomplished  by 
political  action.  Political  action,  in  this  rei)ul)lic,  has  to 
do  with  all  moral  (jucstions  which  affect  citizensliij)  and 
the  state.  Political  action  has  its  initiative  in  the  plat- 
forms of  political  parties,  since  our  government  is  a  gov- 
ernment by  political  parties.  Temperance  legislation, 
therefore,  can  become  a  fact  in  government  only  through 
a  political  party  which  administers  government.  Not 
only  is  the  question  in  politics,  but  in  order  to  secure 
eflfective  temperance  legislation  there  must  be  a  political 
party  which  champions  the  cause  c^f  temperance. 

Before  considering  further  the  question  of  a  political 
partv,  let  us  notice  the  two  chief  methods  of  political 
control  which  are  •  advocated,  prohibition  and  license. 
There  is  nnich  fault  found  with  our  present  prohibitory 


A    POLITICAL    TROBLEM  161 

laws,  mainly  because  of  ignorance  of  their  results.  Local 
prohibitory  laws  are  hard  to  enforce  for  obvious  reasons. 
It  is  difficult  to  measure  their  results.  Some  of  our  state 
laws  have  been  somewhat  unsatisfactory,  but  even  when 
tried  under  the  most  unfavorable  circumstances,  prohibi- 
tion has  vindicated  itself  as  the  best  method  of  controlling 
the  traffic.  Governor  Larrabee,  although  strongly  op- 
posed to  prohibition  when  first  elected,  in  his  message  to 
the  General  Assembly  in  '88,  is  unqualified  in  his  en- 
dorsement of  the  Iowa  law,  speaking  especially  of  its 
efficiency  in  reducing  crime.  North  Dakota  has  had  a 
prohibitory  law  for  thirteen  years.  Judge  Pollock,  of 
the  third  judicial  district,  in  summing  up  the  benefits  of 
this  law  says :  **I  am  profoundly  convinced  that  the  pro- 
hibitory system  has  about  it  elements  better  calculated 
than  any  other  to  intelligently  control  the  liquor  traffic." 
Results  in  Maine  are  similar.  There  are  cogent  reasons 
why  prohibition  must  always  be  the  better  method.  It 
strikes  at  the  heart  of  the  evil  and  attempts  to  destroy  an 
immoral  traffic.  License  is  essentially  permissive  in  char- 
acter; it  attempts  to  regulate  an  evil,  and  is  therefore 
based  on  a  fundamentally  wrong  principle,  because  evil 
should  be  eliminated,  not  regulated.  Prohibition  brands 
the  saloon  as  an  outlaw,  and  denies  the  traffic  judicial 
protection.  License  sanctions,  commissions  and  protects. 
Law  has  a  strong  educative  power.  Prohibition  educates 
the  people  upward,  license  downward.  Prohibition 
makes  liquor  selling  criminal.  It  drives  the  so-called  re- 
spectable saloon  keeper  out  of  business.  License,  in  the 
eyes  of  many,  confers  a  dignity;  the  government  au- 
thorizes the  sale  of  liquor,  therefore  it  is  right.  Prohibi-. 
tion  is  constitutional,  license  is  questionably  so.  Pro- 
hibition is  right,  license  is  confessedly  wrong.  Prohibi- 
tion, then,  is  the  best  method  of  controlling  the  traffic, 
and  in  order  to  secure  such  control  there  must  be  a  po- 
litical party  which  stands  pledged  to  cuch  a  course. 

Can  the  reform  be  accomplished  through  either  of  the 
dominant  political  parties?  The  attitude  of  both  parties 
towards  the  liquor  question  during  the  past  twenty  years 
compels  us  to  answer  this  question  in  the  negative.  It 
would  be  impossible  under  existing  conditions  for  either 


162  WINNING   ORATIONS 

to  declare  for  prohibition  without  suffering  at  least  tem- 
porary defeat.  The  votes  which  the  saloon  directly  con- 
trols in  the  great  cities  are  a  balance  of  power  sufficient 
to  defeat  either  party  should  it  declare  for  prohibition. 
There  is  in  the  Republican  party  a  strong  German  ele- 
ment, and  in  the  Democratic  party  a  strong  Irish  element, 
both  of  which  are  opposed  to  any  such  legislation.  The 
friends  as  well  as  the  foes  of  the  saloon  are  found  in 
both  parties,  but  prejudice  and  past  memories  are  too 
strong  to  permit  of  a  union  of  the  temperance  forces 
within  either  party.  But  the  Republicans  of  Iowa  ask 
with  pride,  "Did  not  our  party  give  us  prohibition,  and 
can  it  not  do  the  same  in  other  states?"  Such  a  conten- 
tion is  without  basis  of  fact.  The  party  did  submit  the 
prohibitory  amendment  to  the  people,  but  it  never  once 
declared  itself  in  favor  of  that  amendment.  Prohibition 
was  obtained  in  a  non-partisan  election.  Chiefly  because 
of  this  lack  of  political  support,  this  lack  of  enforcing 
legislation,  Iowa's  law  has  become  more  or  less  unpopular 
and  in  some  respects  a  failure.  Present  political  condi- 
tions, and  the  logic  of  history  do  not  justify  us  in  hoping 
for  this  reform  through  either  old  party.  And  now,  be- 
lieving that  prohibition  is  a  dominant  issue,  that  a  politi- 
cal party  is  necessary  to  secure  it,  and  that  neither  old 
party  can  give  it,  we  must  face  the  question  of  a  third 
party. 

There  is  no  necessity  at  present  for  the  formation  of  a 
new  party  because  we  already  have  a  Prohibition  party. 
There  are  many  objections  to  this  particular  third  party. 
We  believe  that  it  holds  a  unique  place  in  politics.  It  will 
probably  never  place  a  President  in  the  White  House. 
Its  great  function  is  to  build  up  temperance  sentiment,  to 
keep  the  question  before  the  people  especially  in  its 
political  aspect,  to  agitate,  to  educate.  The  principle  for 
which  it  stands  will  some  day  be  victorious.  No  one  can 
deny  that  the  Prohibition  party  is  doing  a  great  work,  and 
yet  it  fails  to  receive  the  support  of  the  great  majority 
of  temperance  men.  It  is  true  that  for  the  time  being  it 
divides  the  foes  of  the  saloon  into  three  parties  instead 
of  two,  but  no  real  advance  can  be  made  along  any  line 
^without  division  and  the  tinal  results  will  be  a  union  of 


A    POLITICAL    PROBLEM  163 

the  temperance  forces  in  one  party.  It  is  true  that  there 
are  other  issues  besides  prohibition,  but  these  may,  for 
the  time,  be  fairly  considered  of  lesser  importance. 
Should  the  Prohibition  party  take  a  definite  stand  on  these 
issues,  the  result  would  be  division  within  the  party  and 
consequent  disaster.  The  man  whose  party  is  silent  on 
this  question  cries,  "Don't  throw  away  your  vote,"  and 
this  cry  deceives  many.  But  it  is  not  the  duty  of  the 
voter  to  cast  his  ballot  for  the  victorious  party.  It  is 
his  duty  to  record  his  convictions.  "Don't  throw  away 
your  vote,"  is  an  insult  to  an  intelligent  man  who  acts 
from  considerations  of  duty.  To  vote  for  a  third  party 
which  has  no  chance  of  immediate  success,  is  not  to  throw 
a  vote  away.  A  vote  cast  for  principle  is  never  lost.  The 
moral  duty  of  the  voter  needs  to  be  more  strongly  urged. 
Ours  is  a  representative  government.  It  is  a  fundamental 
principle  of  representative  government  that  what  one 
does  through  his  representative  or  agent  he  does  himself. 
Since  our  agents  are  elected  by  means  of  political  par- 
ties, it  follows  also  that  what  one  does  through  his 
political  party,  he  does  himself.  So,  when  a  man  votes 
for  a  party  that  champions  nhe  saloon,  he  becomes  by 
that  act  individually  responsible  for  the  existence  of  the 
liquor  traffic.  In  the  words  of  the  immortal  McKinley, 
"He  becomes  a  partner  in  the  traffic  and  in  all  its  evil 
consequences." 

But  prohibitory  laws  alone  are  not  sufficient.  There 
must  be  a  public  sentiment  created  against  the  'liquor 
traffic  strong  enough  to  demand  the  enforcement  of  these 
laws.  To  create  this  sentiment  is  the  work,  not  alone  of 
the  party,  but  also  of  the  schools,  the  church  and  the 
home.  Here  moral  suasion  and  education  have  legiti- 
mate functions,  because  the  country  needs  a  stirring  up 
on  this  question.  Men  are  needed  like  Garrison  and 
Phillips,  who  will  hurl  anathemas  against  the  liquor  traf- 
fic as  did  these  men  against  slavery.  But  not  only  rnust 
prohibition  sentiment  be  created;  it  must  be  crystalized 
into  political  action.  Those  who  see  no  solution  of  the 
temperance  question  in  politics  have  not  grasped  the 
real  nature  of  the  question.  The  ultimate  solution  of  the 
question  must  be  political,  because  prohibitory  legislation 


164  WINNING    ORATIONS 

is  necessary,  and  this  requires  the  machinery  of  a  political 
party.  Neither  moral  suasion  alone,  nor  political  action 
alone,  will  bring  success,  but  these  forces  united  will. 
The  moral  and  political  forces  must  unite  against  the 
traffic  in  the  individual  man  at  the  ballot  box. 

The  present  generation  can  settle  this  question  if  it 
will.  But  great  reforms  are  impossible  without  the  Geth- 
semane  of  sacrifice.  Realizing  the  dangers  which  threaten 
our  country  because  of  the  liquor  traffic,  voters  of  Amer- 
ica, arise  and  make  the  sacrifice.  "God  give  us  men ! 
A  time  like  this  demands  strong  minds,  great  hearts,  true 
faith  and  ready  hands."  Our  fathers  gave  their  life  blood 
to  preserve  for  us  a  united  country.  It  is  for  us  to  settle 
this  great  question,  not  on  the  battle  field  of  blood  and 
carnage,  but  on  tlie  battle  field  of  politics  by  means  of 
the  Christian  ballot.  The  highest  interests  of  the  home, 
the  school,  the  church,  the  state,  demand  the  prosecution 
of  this  reform.  Every  instinct  of  noble  manhood ;  every 
principle  of  right  and  justice :  every  highest,  every  holiest 
aspiration,  implore  us  to  make  the  sacrifice.  May  the 
mantle  of  the  heroes,  who  have  wrought  great  reforms, 
fall  on  the  young  men  of  to-day,  who  shall  go  forth  to  be 
leaders  in  this  contlict,  inspired  by  the  zeal  of  a  righteous 
cause. 


